The Prince, The Prophet, and The Tyrant
by T. Z. Townshend
Summary: A threat has reawakened in Svartalfheim and Odin must send four of his best sorcerers to combat it.  In the midst of it all, Loki and Sigyn struggle to come to terms with their arranged betrothal.  Pre-movie, Loki/Sigyn.
1. Surprise!

**A/N  
><strong>**Okay, this is my first Thor story ever. Just putting that out there. This story is a different look at how Loki and Sigyn's relationship began based more closely on the mythology combined with some fantasy plot that I made up myself. It does contain quite a number of OCs, but please bare with me. I hope you like it. Please R&R.**

For Loki Odinson, the day had been going as it usually did. He'd spent the morning sparring with his brother and his friends. His afternoon consisted of sitting in his tower in the royal palace, studying magic. That was the thing he cared about most, his magic. However, today he was particularly eager to practice because he needed a new edge against Lady Sif's fighting. Unfortunately, the prince's normal day took a turn for the worse when dinner rolled around.

Sitting and eating quietly next to his brother, Thor, and trying to ignore the lively conversation going on between the others, Loki suddenly heard his name and looked up. Everyone around him was looking in his direction, making him realize that he had been directly addressed.

"Forgive me, I did not hear you."

"You are a man now, Loki. When are you going to find a wife? It shouldn't be too hard. After all, you _are_ a prince of Asgard." Fandral said with a grin that quickly disappeared when he saw the death glare Loki was giving him.

"I have no interest in marriage." the dark haired man hissed back quietly, hoping that his parent's wouldn't catch wind of the conversation. Unfortunately, it was too late and they were already looking right at him with thoughtful expressions.

"It is true, my son. The time has come." Odin spoke in a serious tone. Loki looked back at his father somberly and shook his head.

"I would not make a good husband." the green eyed man protested, but no one heard him. They were already discussing who he might marry. This angered him, but he said nothing. Talk of marrying the Sons of Odin to Vanir brides as a show of peace had already been on the table for years. He shouldn't have been surprised that they were speaking of it now.

"My daughter would be a good match." Freya suggested. The young woman sitting next to her suddenly turned bright red and Loki felt bad for the girl having to deal with such embarrassment. After all, he was feeling just the same way, though he did not allow himself to show it. "Their union would bring strength to the peace between the Aesir and Vanir."

"Lady Sigyn also has much in common with Prince Loki. They are well suited for one another." Frigga added with a smile. It took every ounce of willpower Loki possessed not to do a spit take at hearing the girl's name. His gaze fell on her once again and it finally registered in his brain that, yes, that was Sigyn, all grown up. Apparently she'd been walking around the palace for months and only now had he noticed it was her. It was understandable, since he hadn't seen her in a very long time. Perhaps it was for this reason he was having such a hard time taking his eyes off her and she was trying to hide her face behind her abundance of golden locks.

"Must we discuss this now?" the prince asked, attempting to save them both from the discomfort of having this open for all at the table to see.

"Very well. We shall speak of this further after the meal." Odin replied, narrowing his eye. Loki was not at all reassured by the soft smile his mother gave him and though Sigyn seemed relieved, he knew this was only the beginning of what he was sure would become quite an uncomfortable experience.

* * *

><p>The next day, Loki did not leave his tower all morning. The previous evening had been filled with embarrassment and anger and the prince was not in the mood to face anyone, especially his family. Despite his protests, he was now betrothed to Lady Sigyn and the injustice of it all angered him beyond words. Sure, their marriage would create a bond between the Aesir and Vanir, but he had been forced into it without any consideration for his opinion on the matter. Not that he had any particular objection to Lady Sigyn. She was definitely beautiful and he had fond childhood memories of her, but the bottom line was that it he had not been betrothed to her of his own free will and that infuriated him.<p>

Loki's train of thought was broken away from the issue at hand when a knocking came on the door of his room. He looked up from the tome in his lap with a grimace and answered.

"Go away, brother. I would not speak with you. I wish to be alone." he snapped as the door opened. The dark haired young man was surprised to see that it was not Thor, but Lady Sigyn. She looked timidly at him, clutching the skirt of her deep green dress nervously. "Oh." Loki breathed, genuinely taken off guard for once, though he recovered quickly. "What is it?" he demanded, miffed that his solitude had been disturbed. He tried not to speak too harshly, reminding himself that she was just as much a victim as he was.

"I just thought...maybe we could study together and catch up." Like Loki, Sigyn held a deep interest in magic. As children, they had both been students of Amora the Enchantress, though their dependance on her had quickly disappeared. Eventually, Sigyn's studies had taken her to Alfheim and Loki did not see her again for many years.

"My magic is not like yours." he began sternly, "I do not practice such frivolous magics as those used to change the color of flowers. You would therefore have no interest in what I am studying." The insult in his words was hardly concealed and it offended the woman on a personal level. How dare he mock her abilities. He had no right to judge her when he had not even seen her cast a single spell in centuries. What had she done to receive such scathing words?

"You underestimate me, my lord, but you're right. I would not stoop to practice the arts of trickery like you." Sigyn snapped bitterly, glaring at Loki intently with her bright blue-gray eyes. He returned her glare for a moment before replying.

"What did you really come here for?" He narrowed his eyes at her, but she remained calm under his piercing emerald stare.

"I already informed you. I merely thought that since we are to be married, we should at least be on good terms." Though the woman's voice seemed steady and calm, her eyes betrayed her hurt and anger at the way he was reacting to her. She had much to learn about concealing emotions, Loki noted. He frowned at her and closed his tome before standing up and approaching her so that it became quite apparent how much taller than her he was.

"Let me make this abundantly clear." There was a dangerous undertone in his voice that Sigyn did not miss. "I have no desire to marry anyone. I do not ask for, nor do I require your love and understanding. I only wish to be left to my studies." His words were sharp and painful to the blond. Through all his pranks and trickery, she had never known him to be this cold.

"It is tragic, then, that I must become your wife. I will be expected to spend much of my time with you, no matter how you may protest."

"You are merely another blip in my world, a scratch on a stone. I will not allow your presence to stunt my growth as a sorcerer." Loki hissed, grabbing her roughly by the upper arm. His composure was slipping and now Sigyn understood that it wasn't really her that he was angry with.

"Why do you speak to me in such a way? I wish you no harm. I only mean to make light of this predicament." she explained, her voice much softer now and anger melting away. At her words, Loki seemed to calm down considerably as well. He let go of her arm and took a step back from a slightly shaken looking Sigyn.

"My Lady Sigyn," he began, sounding tired and remorseful. "Forgive me for my slight to your honor. I am not myself. The frustration I feel desires audience." He knew that being gentle and honest with her was the best way to gain her trust, which was something he would need if he was going to make the most of her presence in his life.

"Did you never consider that one day you might have a wife? There is more to life than magic, my lord." she said, leaning toward him a little. This was not the response he had expected her to have and it made him feel strange. Was this fear? The idea of marriage simply felt odd the second prince of Asgard. He was so used to his older and younger brothers being given more love and praise than himself that the idea of someone being there solely for him was new and difficult to comprehend.

Before he could come up with reply that would not reveal his insecurities, a guard came through the door. Both Loki and Sigyn turned to look at him in surprise.

"The AllFather requests the presence of Prince Loki and Lady Sigyn. There is a matter of a magical nature in which he requires your counsel." he informed them. The two followed quickly without another word to each other. When they arrived the in the throne room, they saw that many of Asgard's most well known sorcerers were already there. From this, it was clear that the nature of the matter was quite serious.

"My friends, a dark hour has fallen upon us." the voice of the AllFather rang throughout the hall as he spoke. All eyes were on him. "Aldirr the Tyrant has awoken from his slumber." A whispering like a chorus of insects filled the room. Odin spoke of a dragon who was feared by all. The dragon king, Fafnir, placed him into a (supposedly) never ending sleep to protect the Nine Realms. A way had not yet been found to pierce Aldirr's hide, but Fafnir succeeded in poisoning him, though it did not kill him. "It seems that though his body was rendered useless, his mind remained as awake as ever. He was able to bring a number of creatures under his control. Bending them to his will, he had them find a way to awaken his body. We have yet to find out how they did it, but the most important thing is that we thwart his plans of revenge. We cannot simply send in an army and beat him with brute force. This task requires a much more refined touch, but never the less, a touch with the skill and power to kill. A group of you must go to Svartalfheim and find a new way to bring down Aldirr." There was a grave tone in Odin's voice that sent a wave of unease through the crowd. "I am aware that this request is more dangerous than anything I have asked of any of you before. No one will think less of you for refusing it." The King paused for a moment to give them time to consider before continuing. Loki glanced briefly at Sigyn and saw a look of anxiety on her face. With this, he was sure that she was going to back out, reinforcing his evaluation of her as a fragile little maiden. "Please step forward if you accept." For a moment, no one moved, but then, in unison, Loki and Sigyn came forth. Standing apart from the others, they bowed to the AllFather, touching their fisted right hands to the left side of their chests. As he straighten, Loki glared at the woman next to him in disbelief.

"What are you doing?" he demanded quietly, lips barely moving. She returned his glare briefly before fixing her gaze on Odin.

"Serving my people." she declared softly. Loki noticed her look of determination and he realized that she was not only looking to prove herself to him, but to all of Asgard. He knew what that felt like and he found that he had a new respect for the woman.

"We will do this thing for Asgard." Loki announced confidently. Odin nodded his approval. He was unsurprised that his son had volunteered, in fact, there had been no question of it, but he was taken aback to see Sigyn step forward. Perhaps she was more than she seemed. He had taken her for a timid young woman, yet as she stood by Loki with that determined look in her blue-gray eyes, he couldn't help but feel that her place was exactly where she was, next to Loki.

"Very well. Will no one else assist these two in this task?" the king asked, looking at the other fifteen sorcerers and sorceresses in the room. Two more came forward: Amora the Enchantress and Gingr Ynson. It made sense that Loki and Sigyn's first teacher would want to go with them, but Gingr was a bit of a shock. He was not known for a willingness to work for the good of all. In fact, he was infamous for his selfishness. Never the less, the AllFather nodded in acceptance. "Then it is done. The four of you will travel to Svartalfheim tomorrow." Making a sweeping motion toward the others, all the sorcerers and sorceresses who had refused the mission shuffled out of the throne room, leaving the four alone with Odin. "A Svartalfar escort will be waiting for you upon your arrival. They have been instructed to follow your orders and protect you with their lives." All but Sigyn gave him looks of disapproval at the suggestion that they needed protection, but Odin simply raised an eyebrow and continued. "If nothing else, they will be valuable for their intimate knowledge of the landscape."

"Understood." Amora said with a small bow, which the others mimicked.

"Good luck." he finalized in a serious tone. The four nodded and left the hall, off to prepare for the journey ahead. Amora and Gingr went their separate ways, but Loki kept walking with Sigyn.

"Your magic is not suited for this. Why did you accept?" he told the woman sternly. She stopped abruptly and turned toward him looking quite offended.

"You are just like the others. You only remember the skills I possessed as a child. You know nothing of what I am truly capable of. Why is it that everyone doubts me? Is it because I don't flaunt my abilities like everyone else?" Sigyn retorted, making no effort to hide her feelings. "I am fully able to contribute to this mission."

"I meant no offense, my lady." It was true, he had not intended to come off so harshly, but he knew he would have rile her a little to figure out what she was thinking.

"Then what did you mean, my dear prince?" Already, he could see her calming down and gaining control of her emotions once again. Before this day, he had never seen her act so fiery. It made him wonder if he was receiving a special treatment.

"I merely wished to test your resolve. We cannot afford to have you doubting yourself." This was only partially true. What he truly desired was to be able to understand this woman's limits. Such information could become highly valuable in the future.

"I see. Well, you can be assured that I am without doubt." Outside, Sigyn appeared stern, but on the inside, Loki's piercing green eyes were slowly picking away at the wall she'd built against her nervousness. Something about the way he looked at her made her want to shiver with something that felt like...well, she wasn't sure what it was.

"Good." the dark haired man replied with a nod. He hoped that they wouldn't find out later that her heart was still too soft to kill even an enemy. So far, she had proven to be much more than she appeared.

"I'll see you at the Bifrost tomorrow." With a bow, she turned and walked away. Watching the blond for a moment, Loki sent a sliver of lime green magic toward a fountain as she passed it, causing a large amount of water to splash toward her. As he turned to walk away, he heard the sound of shattering ice and grinned.

"You pass." he muttered, feeling much more endeared to Sigyn than before. As a child, he had been fond of her merely because she had not treated him like a criminal, but they had not spoken in many many years and now they were grown, ready to face real challenges in the real world. She had changed and he found that he like this new, driven Sigyn.

**A/N: ...and that's the first of many chapters to come! I know this chapter is a little short, but they will be longer in the future. Anyhoo, reviews are much appreciated. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Tip of the Iceberg

**A/N: Thanks for the lovely reviews! Here's chapter two. Enjoy. As always, please R&R.**

The sun had barely risen when the four sorcerers stood before Heimdall, watching him open the Bifrost.

"I'm pleased to see my students have mastered extra-dimensional storage." Amora commented, seeing that none of them were weighted down with supplies.

"Did you expect anything less?" Loki replied with raised eyebrows. Amora smiled at him and turned her gaze back to Heimdall, who had opened his mouth to speak.

"The Dark Elves are waiting for you now. Go through." he said. Without another word, they stepped into the vortex. The other side was full of foliage and the light was dim. Two dark figures stood before them patiently as the last beams of light from the Rainbow Bridge faded away.

"These are the heroes Asgard sends us?" one of them asked, sounding very cynical. His companion elbowed him in the ribs and gave the group a small smile.

"Welcome. I am Kaldrig and this is my younger brother, Tilimdar." he greeted them while the other frowned. "As I'm sure you already know, Aldirr is attempting to bring my people under his control. We will do whatever we can to help you assist us." Kaldrig went on, making it clear that the Svartalfar were only helping them for the protection of their own kind.

"I am Prince Loki. This is my wife-to-be, Lady Sigyn, my former teacher, Lady Amora, and my...colleague, Gingr Ynson." the trickster introduced them according to the Dark Elven custom to state ones relation to the one being introduced. He did so as a sign of respect to earn the Dark Elves' trust, knowing they generally did not give it easily. "Aldirr is a threat to all of the Nine Realms. It is our duty to ensure the safety of everyone." On the other hand, he wanted to make it known that they were there for all, not just the Dark Elves.

"Of course." Kaldrig replied cooly. "Come. We have prepared lodging for you." he finally said after spending a few moments in a staring contest with the Asgardian prince. Making a beckoning motion with his hand, Kaldrig led them off into the dark forest. Not a word was spoken by anyone for a long while, but when it became apparent that the aforementioned lodgings would take nearly an entire day to reach, they began to speak softly to one another.

"Sigyn, you seem a little nervous." Loki observed, speaking only loud enough for her to hear. The small smirk on his face faded when he saw her expression. "What is the matter?"

"I know this place. It is the Forest of Lingering Sorrows. If it were midday, we would not know. Time has little meaning here, as one cannot tell it." she explained, her tone grim. Anxiety was written all over her features as she stared off into the distance.

"You have been here before?" A tone of concern found it's way into Loki's voice when he spoke and he was not acting this time. They clearly had not been told something before arriving here and that irked him.

"Only once briefly. I was here on a task for my Alfar teacher. I was sent with an escort of five warriors. Three of us returned." As she explained, painful memories surfaced in her mind, but it did not show on her face. Now was not the time to show any sort of weakness, especially since she was only just beginning to gain the respect of others.

"And what is it that makes this place so dangerous?"

"Many things. This forest was once the home of a powerful necromancer, but when he was killed, the lingering magic that had seeped into the land kept his draugr minions walking. Some say his very soul has become a part of the forest, twisting all life with his vile essence. Nothing is safe." Sigyn's words were full of displeasure, but her eyes spoke of pain and Loki couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her the last time she had been here. Before they had come, she had been quite confident, but now her timid side was showing through once again. The prince found that he admired her for not hesitating despite it and was glad that she had a knowledge of this place.

"Why do you think we are here?" Loki asked, frowning. At this, the blond woman closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath as though she was trying to recall an unpleasant memory.

"I once heard a whisper of a rift in the Svartalfar people. A group of them had become disloyal to the king and tried to stage a coup. They failed and were banished to live in the Forest of Lingering Sorrows. So far as I know, they are the only people to have survived in here for more than a year." As Sigyn spoke, both her and Loki's eyes drifted to the two Dark Elves walking in front of them. All the facts suddenly clicked into place in their minds. "Which means..."

"...it is the rebel group we are assisting. Aldirr is influencing the King and they are working to reclaim their kingdom." Loki finished. They heard a chuckling coming from Tilimdar and he turned his head to look at them.

"You two are pretty sharp." he commented with a smirk, speaking in a highly informal dialect of Old Norse. Loki was already running through a number of schemes to make Tilimdar pay for the disrespect he was showing them. However, Sigyn let it pass.

"Your opinion of us is not very high, is it?" She knew that elves, particularly Dark Elves, could be overly condescending to Asgardians, but this one had a specific grudge. There was a reason for his dislike.

"Once again, a very astute observation. You Asgardians think you're pretty smart, don't you? Think you can just waltz in, slay Aldirr and nonchalantly become big heroes? Well, I can promise you that you wouldn't be here if Aldirr wasn't a danger to Asgard." The cynicism in the Svartalfar's tone was quite clear and unabashed, annoying Loki further. "The House of Odin is only concerned for its own people." This was the last straw for the prince and with a flick of his wrist, lime green magic shaped itself into a blade in his hand.

"Hold your tongue, Svartalf, or I'll cut it out." Loki hissed. Normally, he was very level-headed in the face of an insult, but he still found it hard to control himself when someone openly berated his family.

"Gentlemen, please! We cannot afford any hostilities. Whatever issues you may have, please do not act on them now." Sigyn suddenly spoke up, grabbing Loki's wrist, trying to get him to lower his weapon. Tilimdar continued to grin at them unpleasantly and only after a few sharp remarks from Kaldrig did the elf turn his attention elsewhere, leaving Loki to allow his blade to evaporate. "What were you thinking?"

"This forest is affecting my temperament. Forgive me." This was a half-truth, but it satisfied Sigyn and that calmed the green eyed man. He knew she didn't need more reasons to be anxious, so he had to be as calm and collected as he could, no matter how much Tilimdar might rile him. "You need not worry yourself." At his words, the woman let go of his wrist and took a deep breath.

"We are here." Kaldrig announced suddenly. The Asgardians look up to see a series of shelters built into the trees, connected by roped bridge. The largest shelter was in the center of the grouping and a number of dark faces were peering out at them from it. Kaldrig pointed at two shelters nearby and spoke again. "These are for you. The main one is where all meals and discussion with us takes place." Without another word, the Asgardians were left to themselves. Loki and Gingr went one way and Sigyn and Amora went the other. Inside, the shelters were laden with furs of mediocre quality, which were probably the better of the ones available to the rebels. This was a comfort to Sigyn as it proved that not all of the rebels shared Tilimdar's opinion of Asgard. With that in mind, she settled herself amongst the furs and closed her eyes, intent on getting some rest after their long journey. However, she was kept from falling asleep the moment Amora spoke.

"So, is it true that my two greatest students are to be married?" she inquired, sitting herself down across from Sigyn and smiling slyly. The younger woman frowned and sat up, not in the mood for Amora's gossipy habits.

"Yes, if you must know." she replied testily. Amora smirked and pressed on.

"Do you love him?" At this, Sigyn's frown deepened. She did not like such invasive questions, especially ones regarding her complicated situation with Loki.

"The marriage was arranged, if that is what you are asking." The Enchantress raised her eyebrows at this but didn't stop smiling deviously at her former student.

"So you do not?"

"I never said that. It is just...I am not sure of anything." It was true. Sigyn didn't really know how she felt about Loki. Any affection she had for him she considered to be the remnants of a silly childhood crush.

"How does he feel?"

"He has made it clear that he does not wish to be married to anyone." Sigyn replied with a heavy sigh, recalling with displeasure the conversation she had had with Loki the previous day. She wished that the prince would be a little more accepting, but one never knew what he was thinking. Perhaps he was just testing her.

"Ah, I see. Well, either way, you have my blessing." There was something in these words that Amora was not revealing, but Sigyn couldn't tell what it was and she didn't like that. Giving the older woman a nod, she lay back down and closed her eyes once more.

* * *

><p>Sitting on the other side of the room from Gingr, Loki found his current situation quite awkward. He would much rather be lodging alone. Heck, despite the implications, he'd take Sigyn over Gingr as a roommate any day. He would enjoy her company far more than that of the egotistical sorcerer now sitting ten feet from him, even if she could be a little emotional. It didn't help that Gingr seemed to have a strange interest in the woman.<p>

"So I heard you are marrying Lady Sigyn. You are a lucky man." the brown haired Asgardian commented, taking off his burgundy cloak and tossing it aside.

"You think so?" The prince wanted to know what this man's angle was and he didn't hesitate to use his silver tongue to do so.

"Indeed. It is well known that she is the most beautiful sorceress in Asgard." Gingr replied sincerely, smiling a little though it seemed fake. "And it is also said that the Lady Sigyn would remain loyal and obedient to her lover even in the face of death." With those words, it became apparent to Loki what this man's motives were and it disgusted him.

"Are you saying that you want her for yourself?" he asked, sounding slightly threatening and only half acting as he spoke.

"What man would not?" Gingr answered, dodging the verbal arrow that had been sent his way. "But to be perfectly honest, my lord, if I were to be her husband, I would not have allowed her to come here. It is very unladylike to engage in battle such as we surely will. And that aside, she may be the most beautiful sorceress, but she is far from being the most powerful." Where he had barely escaped Loki's wrath before, Gingr practically begged to be retaliated against when he said these words. However, Loki remained calm and thought up several clever retorts. As much as it angered him to hear this vile man speak of Sigyn in such a way, he knew he would have to use his wits to get his revenge.

"Do you truly think her so incapable, Son of Yn? The Lady Sigyn is far more than a trophy. She possesses qualities and skills valuable to this mission that some of us severely lack." Loki replied, implying Gingr heavily at the end of his statement. Unfortunately, this alone did not fluster the brunette at all and he continued to smile that irritating smile of his.

"Such as?" It was clear now that Gingr was trying to provoke the prince into doing something rash, which would serve as good leverage to turn Sigyn against Loki. However, the trickster would have none of it.

"Civility of Tongue." The obvious insult behind his words combined with the calm tone in Loki's voice caused Gingr to become silent and drop the conversation immediately. Seeing this, the green eyed man smiled a little to himself. Loki: 1, Gingr: 0.

* * *

><p>"So our assumption that there is a connection between your banishment and Aldirr is correct?" Loki inquired as he was handed a bowl with dark green, nearly black and rather unappealing soup in it. He and the others now sat amongst the Svartalfar around a crude brazier. They were being offered their share of the meal, but the only one of them who had yet dared to eat the soup was Sigyn. Seeing their apprehension, she told them that it was called 'Grünlädersoppa' and that it was actually quite good. Only then did the others begin to tentatively nibble at the contents of their spoons. Many of the elves found this very amusing, but as usual, Kaldrig was all business.<p>

"Yes. We have strong reason to believe that Aldirr has poisoned King Ildar's mind. When we tried to bring this to light, we were cast out and forced to live in this forsaken place." he affirmed before taking a spoonful of soup himself. Having already finished her own meal, Sigyn took the opportunity to speak.

"We will find it hard to get to Aldirr with the king and thus most of the realm in his clutches." she observed.

"Precisely. We must bring down the king before we can bring down the dragon. Without King Ildar to act as his puppet, Aldirr's control on my people will slip." This implied that their first task would be to assassinate the king and that did not sit well with Sigyn, no matter how necessary it was. Loki noticed this discomfort and made note of it. She had always had a soft heart and her reluctance to kill had the potential to cause problems. However, they could also prove to be valuable. She seemed to put the Dark Elves at ease and of all the Asgardians present, they trusted her the most. For this reason, Loki knew that it would fall to him to maintain this trust and so when he saw her move to speak again with the words 'Is there no other way?' in her eyes, he quickly sprung into action to prevent her from voicing them. If she said what she was thinking, Kaldrig might not react well.

"And what will you do once the king is dead?" Loki asked suddenly, sending Sigyn a glance that said 'let me handle this'. For a moment, he thought she gave him a grateful smile in response, but he could not be sure for it had gone in an instant.

"We will tell the people that Aldirr made him take his own life. They will then realize that the dragon is an enemy, not an ally and their willpower shall grow strong. They will rise up against him and then we will have an army on our side." Kaldrig explained confidently. Loki raised a dark eyebrow at him in skepticism. The Svartalf seemed to be making quite a few assumptions that could go horribly wrong any number of ways, but obviously he had thought on this plan for some time and so Loki chose not to comment on it.

"If this is your plan, then I suggest we move on it as soon as possible. We must take advantage of every moment Aldirr is not aware of the presence of me and mine." As far as they knew, they had not been detected by the dragon yet and they had to take advantage of that fact while they still could. All four of the Asgardians were vividly aware of this, but it held more weight to Loki than the others as he knew that Aldirr would want to gain control of him. With a Son of Odin in his pocket, his power would increase dramatically. Unfortunately, Loki did not know if his will was strong enough to resist a dragon and did not want to think of what Aldirr might make him do. Images of a burning Asgard with himself at the center, hands red with Sigyn's blood flooded his mind. Pain filled his heart and he tried to shake the images from his head. He would not let those things come to pass. "The sooner we act, the less time Aldirr will have to execute his own plans." Loki's voice was steady despite his upsetting thoughts, though he was unable to stop glancing at Sigyn as if she was going to burst into flame at any moment.

"Agreed. We will need your magic to hide us from Aldirr's probing mind." At these words, Loki found that the eyes of the other three Asgardians were all on him and he let out a sigh of annoyance. "Can you do that?"

"I have some experience with this sort of magic." he answered with a sarcastic smirk. His words were a bit of an understatement as it was well known that he was apt at hiding himself from Heimdall. "Although it would be difficult to maintain such a spell as we would require."

"Perhaps you could enchant some items to do this." Sigyn suggested, pointing absent mindedly at the black headband that she wore. Loki liked this idea but for the fact that he wasn't a master of enchantment. Glancing at Amora, he finally nodded.

"With Amora's assistance, I believe it could be done. What say you, Enchantress?" These words brought a smile to the woman's face and she stopped twirling her hair around her index finger to adjust her sitting position. She picked up on exactly what Loki needed of her and she spoke in the same teacher tone that the prince and Sigyn remembered from their childhood.

"We will require pieces of headgear from each of us." Amora explained, holding out her hand to accept the items. Sigyn handed over her headband, Kaldrig and Tilimdar their helmets, and Gingr the band that held his hair in a ponytail. Setting the items before herself, Amora added her earrings and gestured to Loki to begin the spell. With an air of calm and ease, the dark haired man plucked threads of green magic from the air. The Svartalfar watched in fascination as he brushed his finger tips with the Enchantress's and the threads passed to her, tinting yellow. She lay the strands across the items and waited patiently for them to seep in. A smile graced her lips after a long moment when the magic was finally absorbed. "It is done." she said, returning each of the things to their owners.

"You must be careful to remember to never remove these while you still wish to be hidden from anyone attempting to probe your mind." Loki cautioned in the most serious of tones. The others nodded fervently in response.

* * *

><p>As the group came to the edge of the forest, they could see the sun setting. Had it really taken them the entire day to make it there? True, it had taken them a few hours to deal with a pack of undead wolves that they came across, but they had not expected the journey to take quite so long.<p>

"This will work very much to our advantage." Kaldrig spoke up, easing the Asgardians' concerns.

"Right. We will split now. It will be harder for them to detect us if we are in smaller groups. Sigyn and Tilimdar will come with me. You go with Lady Amora and Gingr. We will keep attention away from the king while you slip into his chambers." Loki commanded in a business-like tone. He did not relish the thought of working with the younger Svartalf brother, but Kaldrig seemed to be the only one who could keep Tilimdar in line, so Loki wanted to personally keep an eye on him while they were separated.

They made their way down the valley to the capital city before splitting into the groups Loki had assigned.

**A/N: Sorry if it seems sort of fast-paced. I have so many ideas for this, I'm trying to get them all down and I'm afraid it's coming out weird. Anyway, let me know what you think. Cookies for reviewers.**


	3. Ten Steps Ahead

**A/N: Once again, thank you for the wonderful reviews/alerts/favs! Sorry for the slight delay in posting this chapter. Anyway, enjoy.**

Tilimdar grew nervous as they walked through the streets of the city. Even though it was almost night and he was invisible, he was convinced in the back of his mind that someone would see him, recognize him, and get him in trouble. It didn't help that he did not trust the two Asgardians walking behind him completely. Loki was well known as a trickster and had already shown that he did not like the elf. Sigyn obviously meant well, but her loyalty was clearly with Loki. Besides that, they were from Asgard. He didn't care for their 'Heroes of the Nine Realms' attitude nor did he appreciate his older brother's extreme willingness to cooperate with them. He felt that Kaldrig held too much respect for them.

"This is perfect." Tilimdar was jarred from his thoughts with these words. They stopped in the middle of the palace courtyard where there was a rather large fountain. "Sigyn, help me keep this spell stable. Tilimdar, keep an eye out." Loki ordered. The Dark Elf was unsure of what they were planning to do until he saw them take hold of each other's forearms and with their free hands begin to weave a spell. As the moved, the water in the fountain began to writhe and take the form of an enormous serpent. The nearby elves unaware of their presence started to panic at the appearance of the thing. The two Asgardians caused it to move back and forth menacingly and it wasn't long before palace guards were on the scene trying to figure out how to bring it down. They thought it was a wayward water spirit and had yet to discover the real reason for its appearance. As one guard managed to drive his blade into the snake's head, Sigyn and Loki lost control of the water, making it explode everywhere. Realizing they were in extreme danger, they quickly went into an unoccupied passageway, hoping that in the chaos and dim light, the water they had been sprayed with had not revealed them.

"We need to meet up with the others. They should be in the King's chambers by now." Sigyn spoke softly, gesturing toward the gargantuan yet ornate doors that led to the throne room.

* * *

><p>Getting into the royal palace had proven to be quite easy for Kaldrig, Amora, and Gingr. In fact, it was so easy that it unnerved them. No guards seemed to be around at all. This meant that either Loki's group had created quite the distraction or something was terribly wrong. As they approached the king's chambers, Kaldrig adjusted his grip on the dagger in his hand. The silence around them was an eerie one as Gingr used his Amulet of No Boundaries to allow them to phase through the doors. What they saw when they reached the other side almost made Amora scream in horror.<p>

Blood was everywhere, or rather, the king was everywhere. He was sprawled across his bed, dagger in hand. It looked like a very messy suicide, but it didn't feel like it to Kaldrig.

"We must get back to the forest as soon as possible." he warned, taking a few steps back.

"What about the others? We can't just leave them!" Amora hissed, trying not to look in the direction of the dead man on the bed.

"If you value your life, you will follow me." Without another word, the Svartalf made his way through the shadows and out into the royal gardens. He knew no one would be there at this time of night and so it was the safest way for them to make their escape. They could only hope that the others would realize something was wrong and return to the camp.

* * *

><p>As they stepped into the empty throne room, Loki lowered the invisibility spell that had keeping them safe. It was tiring to maintain particularly when it covered more than one person and besides that, their appearance would immediately let the other group know they were there. However, none of the others came out and it didn't take long for them to realize that something had gone very wrong.<p>

"Hide!" Tilimdar exclaimed when his elven ears picked up distant movement. On instinct, Loki grabbed Sigyn's arm and pulled her behind a large pillar with him. Tilimdar darted into the shadow of the large throne just as a group of guards burst through the doors. Their eyes scanned the room for a long moment, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Apparently one of them spotted something because he moved out of formation to pick up whatever it was from the floor. It appeared to be a small piece of metal. At this, the guard's violet eyes narrowed and his gaze fell on the throne. The others seemed to pick up on this and raised their bows. One moment, the whistle of arrows was heard, the next, a cry of pain. As Tilimdar fell, Sigyn motioned to let out a gasp of horror, but Loki quickly put a hand over her mouth. He locked his emerald eyes with her gray ones, trying to convey to her what he was about to attempt with the smallest of gestures. Her eyes grew wide when she realized what he was going to do, but after a second, she nodded in acceptance. Closing her eyes and allowing Loki to take her hand in his, Sigyn felt a brief moment of pressure coming from all sides. When she opened her eyes, the pressure had gone and they were standing in the middle of the rebel camp. Seeing that she was safe and all in one piece, she let out sigh of relief that was followed by heavy breathing as she tried to take in everything that had just happened.

The rebels began to crowd around them, speaking in worried voices, demanding to know what had taken place. For a moment, Loki said nothing and simply felt relieved that he had managed to teleport two people at once. Awkwardly, he suddenly noticed that he was still holding Sigyn's hand and he let go before finally speaking.

"Something has happened. Kaldrig, Lady Amora, and Gingr were not there to meet us." the prince explain calmly. His words did nothing to rid the Dark Elves of the anxious look on their faces.

"Where is Tilimdar?" one of them asked.

"He was detected and shot through the heart. There was nothing we could have done to save him. I suspect that somehow, the guards knew that there would be an intruder." At these words, expressions of grief spread through the crowd like wildfire. The air hung with an almost palpable silence as the Dark Elves closed their eyes and lowered their heads. Sigyn did this as well and Loki quickly followed suit, guessing that it was some form of elven custom to honor the slain.

"What has happened? Why do you hang your heads as if you have lost a brother?" Kaldrig's voice cut through the crowd some time later and it parted with much gasping and muttering to reveal the Dark Elf rebel leader with Amora and Gingr tagging closely behind him. They looked tired and were pulling horses with them. "Where is my brother?" he demanded. The silence that followed was full of sorrow and Kaldrig soon understood what it meant. "No. No! NO!" Desperation and pain were written all over his features as his gaze went to the dark canopy of the forest. He let out a roar of anguish and fell to his hands and knees, making no effort to conceal his emotions. The other Svartalfar came and sat around him, some putting a supportive hand on him. The Asgardians stood to the side awkwardly, unfamiliar with this sort of behavior. Loki looked upon the grieving elves with disgust, having himself always thought it better to never show such vulnerability.

"Pathetic. Now is not the time for this." the prince muttered, frowning heavily. Sigyn heard him and gave him a stern glare that he had not expected from her.

"It is their way. When a sibling dies, there is no shame, in fact, it is considered honorable to show such open grief. They believe it is one of the highest ways of showing respect to the dead. It shows that those who were lost were loved dearly." she told him. "How would you feel if Thor was taken from you?" the blond added after Loki's only response was to press his lips into a thin line. They look he gave her when she asked that question was a mix of sadness and guilt. He now understood what she was saying better than he found comfortable. "Think about that when you speak of Kaldrig." With that, Sigyn left Loki's side and went to sit in the main shelter of the camp. She had to fight the urge to break down and burst into tears because of the emotional overload she was experiencing.

"Is everything alright?" a voice came from the entrance after a while that was annoyingly familiar. The sorceress looked up to see Gingr Ynson approaching her, looking concerned. She gave him a cynical smile in return.

"Why would anything be alright? Someone died today. Someone who I could have protected." It was getting more and more difficult to hold back tears with every word she spoke.

"You have a strong connection with the elves, don't you." Gingr observed as he sat himself down across from Lady Sigyn.

"Yes. I studied in Alfheim for a time. While I was there, I learned much about all the kinds of elves." She was a little curious as to why the sorcerer was interested in her experience with the pointy eared race, considering there were much more pressing matters at hand.

"Why aren't you out there mourning with them?"

"It is not my place. I am not one of them."

"They trust you."

"I understand them." At this point, Sigyn really wanted to know what this man was getting at. She was in no mood to speak with much of anyone, let alone the most selfish sorcerer in all of Asgard.

"You are more than understanding. You are kind. No matter what Prince Loki may say, I believe in you and your ability to contribute to this mission." Gingr's words made the blond blush brightly and when he noticed, he grinned. "Do not despair, for if the Prince cannot lead us through this, I am confident you will." For a long moment, the woman could find no words to respond with. She was flattered and surprised by Gingr's comforting speech, having never known him to be so sympathetic.

"T-Thank you." she sputtered, not able to look the brunette in the eyes.

"Not thanks is required." Suddenly, his hand was on her shoulder. When did he get so close? "It is merely the truth."

"That doesn't sound like searching for materials." Loki's voice came sharply from the entry way. A bizarre feeling of relief came over Sigyn when Gingr stood up and stepped away from her. Loki glared at the man, his bright green gaze seeming to want to burn holes in the brunette.

"Forgive me." Gingr bowed and left, glancing momentarily at the young woman as he passed the trickster. The prince said nothing in reply, but when he was sure that the other man had gone, he walked toward Sigyn and spoke to her.

"That man is not the best of company."

"And you judge too easily." she responded cooly. Loki let out a barely audible sigh at this, thinking that despite her intelligence, his fiance could be quite naïve. However, he was not discouraged by this and without hesitation, he sat down across from her just as Gingr had.

"You should be wary of him. I have heard things." He made his tone one of concern, hoping she would see that he was not just being callous. Truth be told, he was actually worried for the girl (though he would not admit it). Perhaps she noticed this, because she gave him a sad smile.

"It is unfortunate that our first real conversations after being apart for so many years are full of discontent." As she spoke, the blond stared at her hands which were folded in her lap. Nothing was going well for her, it seemed.

"When we return home, there will be much opportunity for pleasant conversation. I promise." Loki was careful to say 'when' and not 'if' as he knew that it would be best that he not remind her of death in any way, particularly since his words seemed to improve her mood significantly and the smile she gave him was most definitely one worth sustaining. "I must admit, I have always looked back upon our adventures as children with the utmost fondness." The redness this brought to Sigyn's cheeks pleased Loki and assured him that he was succeeding in his goal of taking her mind off of Tilimdar's death.

"Remember when we climbed the tallest tree in the royal gardens to escape your angry brother and we did not come down until you mother came herself to persuade us?" This time it was Loki's turn to smile. A mischievous grin graced his lips as he recalled the event described. It was no lie that his memories of her were quite joyful and he found it pleasing to see that she had grown into such a beautiful, kind woman.

"Yes, I remember it well." Loki had to remind himself not to get distracted and that suggested that she was growing on him now that their friendship was trying to worm its way back into his heart. It was possible that he was beginning to accept the thought of marrying Sigyn more than he cared to admit. "Come. You need rest. Tomorrow, there will be much to do." he said suddenly, standing up and offering her his hand. She took it without question and he pulled her to her feet before walking with her to the door of the women's shelter. "Sweet dreams." he muttered as he watched her go inside.

* * *

><p>As Gingr Ynson went back to his task of going through the rebel supply crates, a deep, gravely voice came to his mind.<p>

"You want her, do you not?" it said. He stopped maving for a moment, trying to identify the presence he was feeling. Deciding it didn't really matter who it was, the sorcerer answered.

"Yes." He knew he could not lie to a voice in his own mind.

"He does not love her. To him, she is just another tool. You appreciate her in ways he never can." the voice told him.

"I cannot touch her while the Prince is around." Gingr's voice was full of dislike. Whenever he attempted to get close to Sigyn, Loki would always appear and steal her away.

"I can give you what you so desire." the voice offered. "For a price."

"Name it."

"Bring me the Son of Odin and I will not only give you the Lady Sigyn, but also a portion of my power." To the brunette, this offer was far too good to refuse and he didn't care that it meant betraying Asgard.

"Show me the way and it shall be done."

* * *

><p>It took some time for Sigyn to fall to sleep. Her mind was restless with the events of the day. Thoughts of Tilimdar, Gingr, and Loki flitted through her mind. The Svartalf's death filled her with guilt, a feeling that she could have saved him. This would bring her nearly to tears and so she would force herself to think of other things, namely Gingr, which inevitably led to Loki. Just before sleep finally came to her, she decided that she was happy to be marrying the second prince of Asgard and hoped that they made it through this. Her dreams, however, were not so pleasant or hopeful. The blond twisted and turned in her slumber, mind still uneasy. Images of a large, lizard-like creature flashed before her, fire and goblins all around. A deep, raspy voice that shook her to the core came from the creature, though she could not make out what it was saying. Consumed with fear, Sigyn ran as quickly as she could through a series of dark passageways, though she knew not where they led. Soon, she found herself standing in the snow on the side of a mountain. There was nowhere for her to go, but suddenly she felt a push and fell off the side of the cliff. Before she could reach her death, the woman's eyes snapped open. Her heart was pounding loudly as she sat up and it took her a few moments to realize that she was not falling, but in fact sitting comfortably amongst soft furs, far from any mountain.<p>

"Are you alright?" a familiar feminine voice came from nearby and Sigyn looked over to see Amora watching her.

"I think my Vanir blood has awakened. I just had a most unnerving dream." the young woman replied with the utmost seriousness. Her former teacher gave her a skeptical look, though it was more out of not wanting to hear bad news than a desire to be condescending.

"Perhaps it was just a bad dream."

"No. This felt different. I must speak with Loki." Standing up and smoothing the skirt of her dress, Sigyn went outside. The cold misty are hit her like a wave and she became truly awake, allowing her to be vividly aware of the eerie stillness around her. Abruptly, she recalled a poem she had heard when she was very small that seemed strangely relevant. "When all seems calm yet out of place/ And for your comrades you mourn/ Remember these words and be ever wary/ Of the Silence Before the Storm." she said it softly after stopping in the middle of the camp and looking around at the dark, scraggly trees and the black leaves the littered the ground. Amora stood next to her, worried, not knowing quite what was going on with Sigyn.

"Ah, Lady Sigyn! I was just about to fetch you. Did you sleep well?" Loki approached them wearing the smallest of smiles. Upon hearing him, Sigyn stared at him with a look of revelation.

"How did you know it would happen?" she demanded, causing him to give her a devious grin. A chuckle escaped him as he looked upon her with something akin to pride.

"You are a clever girl, though I am hurt that you thought I had forgotten your birthday." the trickster replied, still smiling. Sigyn made a small gasp, it having just occurred to her that it was indeed her birthday. With everything that had been happening, she had completely forgotten.

"This is still highly irregular. I am too young to gain sight of the future. How did you account for that?" She had been talented at skrying for as long as she could remember, but seeing into the future was on a whole other level. Those with Vanir blood usually did not start getting visions until they were somewhat older than Sigyn was now.

"I have read that the Gift can appear early in those under a great deal of stress." Loki state simply. His words caused Sigyn to narrow her eyes at him, as if she was trying to detect a subtext in what he was saying. However, this time there was nothing more and he was being completely open with her, something she did not expect. "Will you tell me what you saw?" he asked, switching his tone to a more gentle one.

"It was not too clear, but I saw Aldirr. He was inside a mountain. I think I know where that might be." Sigyn said, subconsciously clutching at the skirt of her dress. She was afraid of what Loki might demand of her with this new information. Her Vanir "gift" was more like a curse in her eyes. If he asked her to dream again, she might not be able to handle it.

"That is valuable. We are truly lucky to have you with us, my lady." Loki told her, employing a little flattery to improve the young woman's attitude toward him. "However, I will not ask you to dream again." he reassured her after noticing how she clutched her dress. It relieved him to see her relax at his words.

"Thank you." Sigyn's cheek tinged pink and for a moment, she forgot that Amora was there, strangely entranced by Loki's bright emerald eyes. He gave her a smirk and a humble nod in response.

"Has Gingr spoken to you about what happened?" Amora suddenly asked, snapping the other two back into awareness of her presence. The Enchantress enjoyed watching Loki and Sigyn interact, but she did not like to be ignored.

"Yes. What he told me changes everything. We will no longer be able to free the Svartalf people until Aldirr is brought down. This means a change in tactics is in order." The prince's tone was once again businesslike as he addressed Amora. He recalled the strained conversation he had had with Gingr not long ago with displeasure and it showed in his expression when he spoke to the enchantress.

"What do you propose?"

"Someone must return to Asgard and find out the details of the Dragon King's defeat of Aldirr the Tyrant. The rest of us will work on finding a new way to destroy the dragon." Loki explained. He knew they would need to be extra stealthy with this new plan as he still had just a theory as to how Aldirr had discovered not only them, but their initial plan as well. It worried him to think that the dragon had so easily turned that plan against them.

"I will go. We can enchant my ring to teleport me to Sigyn once I have the information." Amora suggested, taking a silver ring studded with onyx off her finger. The dark haired man nodded silently and began to pluck lime green strands of magic from the air and weave them into a thin braid. When he was done, he passed it to Amora and she pulled it through the ring, which absorbed the magic. Sigyn watched all of this with fascination and wondered how they could make it all look so very simple.

"It is done. Go now. There is no time to waste." The words were barely out of his mouth when a blast came from the sky and hit Amora. When it was gone, so was she. "I see that Heimdall has been keeping close watch over us." the prince commented after a moment with a grin. Both he and Sigyn felt a sense of comfort at the thought that the gate keeper had his eyes on them.

A few minutes later, Gingr appeared wearing a quizzical expression. It was obvious what he wanted to know the moment he opened his mouth.

"Lady Amora has gone to find a detailed account of Aldirr's defeat. While she does that, we will find his lair." Loki explained before the other man could say anything. Gingr frowned silently in response as it to say 'thanks for asking my opinion of this plan'. The trickster ignored this and turned his attention back to Sigyn. "Will the Dark Elves have finished their formal mourning by now?"

"Yes. We will probably find them in the main shelter talking quietly amongst themselves." Wit that, the three went to the place in the middle of the camp and as promised, all of the Svartalfar rebels were there. They looked up when the Asgardians entered and Kaldrig stood to greet them, looking calm and steady.

"Greetings. Where is Lady Amora?" he asked politely.

"She is gathering information. What concerns us is journeying to mountain." This knowledge seemed to be somewhat surprising to the elf, but he nodded without asking further questions on the subject of the Enchantress.

"I will need to see a map of this realm." Sigyn spoke up, taking charge of the situation. The Dark Elf nearest her quickly handed her a scroll. She unfurled it and studied its contents closely for a few moments. "Here." she said, pointing at a group of mountains between the forest and the northern plains that led to Jotunheim.

"Wolf Reach? Our scouts have gone there before. We did not find anything but harsh terrain and more dangerous beasts." Kaldrig put in with a deeper frown. Sign raised her eyebrows at him as if to say 'oh really'.

"Were you looking for a dragon?"

"Are you saying that Aldirr is hiding deep in those mountains?"

"Exactly."

"How do you know? I thought his body was entombed beneath the capital city."

"I am Vanir. I had a vision." At these words, Kaldrig became quiet and gave the woman a pensive look as if he was suddenly much more knowledgeable about her in a way that he was not letting on. Paying little attention to this, Sigyn continued. "We will find more than feral beasts if I am correct. Goblins will be guarding what we are looking for."

"We are no army. We cannot simply wage war against a horde of goblins."

"We do not have to be. The key to all of this is stealth." Almost as soon as she said this, Sigyn realized she shouldn't have. Kaldrig now looked at her with an expression of barely controlled anger.

"Look where stealth got my brother." he snapped. The gray eyes woman opened her mouth to give a soothing response, but she was cut off by a rather miffed Loki.

"Then what do you propose we do?"

"Call forth Asgard's armies. You and I both know how fond Odin is of war."

"It is not that easy. We cannot just take a mountain full of formidable enemies by storm." Loki did his best to ignore the obvious jab at his father, but he found his voice was growing louder.

"Of course. It is always easier to to sneak around and do nothing when a comrade is in danger!"

"There was nothing we could have done. You are letting your pain blind you!"

"If that _girl_ can see the future, she very well could have saved Tilimdar!" Kaldrig sneered. Sigyn was almost to tears now and Loki saw this, which only served to anger him further.

"That is simply not the case, you fool! You know nothing of her!"

"You are an arrogant bastard, Loki Odinson!"

"Do not test my patience." It was clear that the prince was trying to remain calm, if not for his own sake, for Sigyn's, but he was failing. Kaldrig growled at him and drew a long dagger from his belt. Loki summoned a ball of green energy in his hand and held it as if he was about to throw it.

"Stop!" Sigyn cried suddenly and all attention turned to her. She looked ready to burst into tears. "Have you lost all sense of civility!" After this, there was a moment of silence as they all stared at her and she glared at both Loki and Kaldrig with disbelief. Then without saying anything further, she left. Loki's gaze followed her until she was out of sight and he couldn't help but feel very worried. He could only hope that she wasn't about to do anything incredibly foolish.

"Leave. You can pursue your silly little mountain adventure, but you will get no help from us." When Loki looked back at Kaldrig, the elf's dagger was in its scabbard. At this point, it was understood that the Asgardians and Svartalfar rebels would part ways. The green eyed sorcerer dispelled the ball of energy in his hand and walked out silently.

**A/N: Sorry if this was really long and confusing. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. As always, reviews are much appreciated, especially constructive ones. I'll try to update again soon. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Fur and Frenemies

**A/N: Sorry that it took so long for me to update. As always, the reviews/alerts/favs made me smile. You guys must have put me in a really good mood because this chapter is filled with Loki/Sigyn fluff...but also lots of Loki and Gingr rivalry. Also, sorry if this chapter seems a little short. I was trying to pump out a new chapter as quickly as possible. Anyway, enjoy.**

Loki found Sigyn walking swiftly into the foreboding forest. She did not stop when he caught up to her, nor did she look at him. By all appearances, she was disappointed with him and had wholeheartedly planned to march off to Wolf Reach all alone. He only managed to halt her and get her to meet his gaze when he grabbed hold of her arm and spun her around. She said nothing and only leered at him as if daring him to tell her she was being foolish. Gingr hovered nearby silently and the two were only vaguely aware of him. Most of their argument was done with small bits of body language and it only lasted a few minutes, but it was heated.

Sigyn was angry with Loki for being rash, but he tried to convey to her that he had only been attempting to defend her honor. This did nothing to appease her as she felt her honor had not been in need of defending. She could defend it herself, thank you very much and by the way, kudos for costing them an ally.

"You do not deserve an ally that will not treat you with respect." Loki told her.

"That is not the problem. You should not have said those things, Loki. He was right about me. I could have saved his brother." Sigyn was more depressed than angry now. It was clear to the prince that she had been feeling this way for quite some time and it greatly troubled him.

"No! Do not let anyone tell you that. Not ever. If you had tried to help, you would be dead as well. Kaldrig was not there. He did not see the hopelessness of the situation. He was looking for someone to blame." Loki shook Sigyn a little as he spoke as if he was trying to bring her to her senses. She blinked at him and finally, after a minute, she bowed her head.

"Alright. Just, please, no more shouting." At this moment, the blond looked strangely fragile, like if Loki let go of her, she would collapse. Her eyes held a look of complete resignation and Loki came to realize that she didn't want to talk about this. She only wanted to keep doing the mission. He decided to comply and let go of her with an apologetic expression on his face.

"Show me the way to Aldirr and I will follow. Whatever assistance you might require, I will provide. I am your shield and your sword." Loki promised after suddenly giving the young woman a deep bow. It was his way of recognizing how completely Sigyn had taken charge of the task Odin had given them. No one was more qualified to lead them in this. She looked back at him in astonishment and off to the side, Gingr made a similar bow as if to say that his loyalty was to her as well.

"Very well. To Wolf Reach." she said after a long pause in which she tried to comprehend the authority Loki had just given her. Never had anyone treated her like this. The prince smiled at her and they began making their way north.

* * *

><p>"Lady Sigyn, here, take this." Loki offered his fur cloak to Sigyn. They had come to a snowy region at the foot of the mountains. The last scraggly tree had left their sight some time ago and now the bone chilling winds of northern Svartalfheim blew toward them. Sigyn held the map in one hand and the hem of her shawl in the other, shivering visibly. Gingr was wrapped up in a fur lined cloak of his own, but his teeth could still be heard chattering from time to time. Loki, on the other hand, seemed completely unbothered by the low temperatures.<p>

"What about you? You will freeze." the woman said, shaking her head at Loki's offer. He chuckled and continued to hold the garment out to her.

"The cold does not bother me so easily. Besides, I do not relish the thought of watching you freeze to death." With this, Sigyn gave him a small, nervous smile and accepted the cloak. It was indeed very warm and it smelled of leather and pine, all of which she found very pleasant as she dawned it. Gingr observed this with a pang of jealousy. He did not like the kind yet badass image Loki was presenting. Just the day before, they had encountered an enormous, red eyed bear and the trickster had impaled it with a summoned spear like it was nothing, saving Sigyn's life in the process. The whole thing had made the brunette look like a coward and that infuriated him especially now seeing Loki act like the cold didn't touch him.

"Thank you." Sigyn replied to Loki as her shivering stopped and her gait steadied. He grinned and Gingr continued to silently fume.

As they began to climb the mountain, the three spotted a group of small, green, armor wearing creatures who looked as if they were on some sort of patrol. They were marching towards the Asgardians, but they had not been seen yet.

"Goblins." Gingr said, the hatred in his voice not hidden at all. To avoid said goblins, the three ducked under an overhang out of the creatures' path. As the yellow eyed humanoids passed, the sorcerers caught snippets of goblin speech, though neither of the men could understand it.

"They said something about 'when he brings him to us'." Sigyn whispered and the other two stared at her in disbelief (though Gingr looked more uncomfortable at her words than anything else).

"When did you learn goblin-speak?" Loki asked, genuinely astounded.

"I picked up a little when I was in Alfheim. A lot of small markets have goblin vendors."

"Why am I surprised?" Loki said with a laugh before coming out from beneath the overhang. After he signaled that the coast was clear, Sigyn and Gingr came out as well and they continued their way up the mountain. The snow blowing in their faces stung and made it nearly impossible to see, but they kept going though they found themselves more and more frequently stopping to avoid goblin patrols. After a while, Sigyn put her hand on Loki's shoulder to get his attention and spoke.

"We should go off the path and find shelter. We must rest." At this, the green eyed man silently nodded and gestured to a large alcove they could see on the other side of a ten foot cliff gap in front of them. Despite the apprehensive look Sigyn gave him, Loki quickly made the jump (though just barely). He then turned and beckoned for the woman to jump next. Swallowing her nervousness, she leapt and smiled as her right foot made a solid, stable connection to the ground on the other side. However, that smile quickly became wide eyed panic when her other foot slipped on the edge and she fell. Fortunately, Loki managed to get a firm hold on her hand just as she was about to become out of reach.

"Hold on, my lady." the prince instructed, his tone soothing in an attempt to keep the blond calm as she dangled perilously over the side of the cliff. He locked his eyes with Sigyn's and extended his other hand to her. "Take my hand." Without question, she took it and he hauled her up and away from the edge. She fell into his arms when he let go of her hands and she clung to him for a few moments as if she might fall again, taking deep breaths to try and stave off the adrenaline rush. The feeling of Sigyn's body pressing against his own caused Loki's cheeks to become tinted pink and he held her tightly until she let go and looked back at Gingr, wondering if he would be able to make the jump. The brunette smirked and leapt gracefully to their side effortlessly, though Loki found himself wishing the other man had fallen. Funnily enough, he was sure that Gingr felt the same way about him.

While the two men were busy glaring at each other, Sigyn had already set to work building a fire. Summoning some dry kindling and wood, she arranged them and set them ablaze with a spark of blue magic. This seemed to pull the other's attention back to her and they came and sat with her next to the fire. From seemingly nowhere, she pulled a loaf of bread, a bottle of mead, and three goblets. Loki and Gingr looked at her in amazement and appreciation and she smiled at them.

"While you two were packing scrolls and spellbooks, I was considering the possibility that we might not be supplied with food." Sigyn teased. The men laughed and accepted the goblets she offered them. She distributed the loaf of bread evenly among them and they began to eat. When they were done, Loki placed several enchantments at the entrance of their little alcove to ward off any snooping goblins and keep them hidden.

"So, any bedrolls?" Gingr asked humorously as they settled down to sleep.

"Sadly, no. I thought we could survive without bedding." Sigyn replied. Fortunately, the fur cloak Loki had given her was plenty soft and actually quite comfortable. Gingr and Loki weren't as lucky. The brunette's cloak wasn't as soft and the prince had given his away. This made the woman feel a little bad for them, though more so for Loki than Gingr. "Perhaps I could spread this cloak across the ground. I'm sure it would be wide enough for both of us to lie on it." Sigyn suggested. Both men stared at her as if she had spontaneously combusted. It was bad enough that they would be sleeping in the same area as a woman. The fact that she was suggesting Loki sleep right next to her made it completely scandalous and the trickster reveled in how it made Gingr squirm. Anything to show up the other man. Sigyn, of course, was completely baffled as to why they were staring at her like this.

"That is a good idea." Loki replied with a mischievous leer. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gingr frowning and looking as jealous as ever and he had to admit that it pleased him. Sigyn paid little attention to Loki's silent gloating and spread the fur cloak across the ground as much as she could. After claiming a side of it for herself, she lay down and was asleep in moments. "Looks like someone was tired." Loki muttered before taking his place next to her. Gingr continued to eye them enviously before curling up nearby in his own furs. He too fell asleep quickly. However, the emerald eyed man remained awake simply because sleep refused to come to him. So, he turned to look at Sigyn's slumbering form. He was tempted to reach out and stroke her long, golden hair, but he reminded himself that it was very improper and that he wasn't a little boy with a silly crush anymore. _What are you talking about. You have already broken the boundaries of what is proper by agreeing to lie here. You should be lying on the hard ground if you want to do what is proper._ A part of him said, but he paid no heed to it and just kept looking at Sigyn. He could see that she was shivering slightly and occasionally she would make a sudden movement as if she were having a bad dream. Without even thinking, Loki reached out and wrapped his arm around her comfortingly. Realizing what he'd done, he was about to quickly withdraw, but then she moved closer to him in her sleep so that her back was up against his chest. After seeing that the warmth she was getting from him had stopped her shivering, he decided not to move and closed his eyes. Now that he was comfortable, he could finally fall asleep.

* * *

><p>As Lady Sigyn slept, a dream came to her. She saw Loki standing with his back to her. He appeared to be in a protective stance. He was shouting and she looked down to see that her dress was torn and covered in blood, though she could not tell if it was her own or someone else's. She could hear Gingr's voice now. It sounded strangely different. It sounded...full of power. It frightened her. There were several flashes of green and orange and more shouting from both voices before an uneasy silence came. Then there was a huge explosion...and Sigyn woke up.<p>

The fire had gone out and the sun shone through the entrance of the alcove shyly. The woman looked over to see Loki sitting cross legged next to her, gazing at her tranquilly with his bright green eyes.

"You are awake. Good." he said softly. "Gingr has disappeared." At this, her expression became one of deep worry, but it changed to one of relief when the missing brunette appeared, smiling. "Where were you?" Loki demanded, narrowing his eyes.

"I did a bit of scouting. Looks like that gap is much smaller a little ways over." Gingr explained. From inside his cloak, he took a small, budding gray flower and handed it to Sigyn. "For you, my lady. I found a patch of these growing between some rocks. It is hard to believe anything would grow up here, but this seems to have found a way." Sigyn took the flower and nodded graciously, but turned bright red when she realized what flower it was. The woman had a working knowledge of flowers and their meanings, as most Asgardian women did and she quickly recognized it as the Grayfire Flower, a symbol of violence and lust.

"Um...th-thank you." she responded. To say that Loki's expression was one of disapproval would be quite the understatement. He was livid and it entertained Gingr to no end. Ever since he had woken up to see Loki with his arm wrapped around Sigyn, holding her closely to him, the man had been trying to come up with a way to get back at him and that way had presented itself beautifully in the form of that flower.

"I just thought it matched your eyes rather well." Gingr commented, smirking at sight of Loki's frown. Sigyn continued to blush brightly until she managed to change the subject.

"Right. Let's get moving. We still have a long way ahead of us." Doing the clasp on her cloak, the woman left the alcove, avoiding Gingr's amber gaze. The two men followed her silently. Little did Loki and Sigyn know what lurked in the mind of the man walking behind them.

**A/N: ...and there you have it. I'm interested to know what you think of Gingr, so if you choose to review, please tell me. The next chapter will probably be a lot darker than this one and include a lot of mind control stuff...and Gingr being an even bigger creeper...because its fun to write him that way. Anyway, thanks for reading and reviews always make my day.**


	5. Mind Games

**A/N: Once again, sorry it took me so long to update. I would have had this up a lot sooner if not for some internet connection problems. To all of my reviewers, I love you unconditionally. You motivate me so much. Anyway, please enjoy and review.**

**WARNING: This chapter contains suggestive situations, fantasy violence, and Gingr Ynson being Gingr Ynson.**

As the Asgardians climbed the path up the mountain, Sigyn was deep in thought over the dream she had had the night before. She poured over every possible meaning of what she had seen, yet the only thing that seemed certain was that she was going to get hurt. The rest of it had been too vague and she could not find out much of anything else without further contextual information. She considered telling Loki about her dream, but for some strange reason, part of her told her she shouldn't discuss it with Gingr so close. That was the other thing; Gingr's giving her the Grayfire Flower might be an omen and that worried Sigyn. Something was not quite right about that man. Sure, she wanted to try to not judge him so easily. He had only been kind to her thus far. However, something in the way he looked at her unnerved her, but she could not figure out what it was.

"Goblins!" Gingr suddenly hissed, shaking Sigyn out of her deep thought. "Quickly! This way!" He beckoned for Loki and Sigyn to follow him into a nearby cave. They hide behind a large grouping of icy stalagmites in the dim light, listening closely for the approaching goblins. When no sound came, they brushed it off as a false alarm and moved out from behind the ice. The moment they were out in the open, several goblins jumped out at them. It was an ambush.

"Seize them!" one of the creatures cried in the goblin language.

"They want to capture us." Sigyn informed Loki, stepping closer to him. He had already dispatched two of them by the time she spoke. Another approached the woman and she blasted it full on in the face with a ball of blue magic. It did not die, but it fell over looking paralyzed. Seeing this, Loki frowned.

"Now is not the time for kindness." he warned her before ending the goblin's life with a stroke of his dagger. Sigyn stared at him in a way that made it clear she thought his words cruel.

"Prince Loki! Behind you!" Gingr called. Loki turned around to see no goblins behind him. For a moment, he was confused, then he fell into blackness.

* * *

><p>Loki was shaken roughly awake and he opened his eyes slowly. For a moment, everything was blurry and he felt strangely drowsy, but after blinking a few times and concentrating, everything came into focus. He was in an enormous fire lit cavern and his hands were tied behind his back. A goblin stood guard next to him. Looking over to his left, he could see Sigyn in a similar state. He whispered her name and she turned to him, gazing at him with an expression of pure terror in her eyes. It pulled roughly at his heartstrings and he was about to tell her not to worry, everything was going to be alright no matter what was happening, but then a deep, blood chilling voice came from the darkness at one end of the cavern and he forgot all else.<p>

"Well done, Son of Yn. Your actions will be rewarded." it said.

"Thank you, my lord." a familiar voice answered. It was then that Loki noticed Gingr a little ways away on his knees, bowing in the direction from which the voice came. Realizing what was going on instantly, the prince was filled with a fury such that he rarely experienced.

"You traitorous bastard!" he yelled, moving to kick Gingr as hard as he could but soon finding that his legs were bound as well. At this, he let out a feral snarl of frustration and glared daggers at the other man.

"Oh, I did not notice you were awake. Hello." Gingr stood up and leered at them devilishly. As he had turned to face them, Sigyn let out a gasp at the sight of his eyes. They were no longer a warm amber color. Instead, they glowed a menacing orange. "Do you like them? They are the mark of a gift from Lord Aldirr." he said to the blond with a grin. He came close to her and stroked the side of her face. She shivered at his touch and he laughed. "I hope you do, because you will be seeing them every day for the rest of your life." Sigyn said nothing to this and continued to stare at Gingr in disgust.

"Keep your hands off her, scum!" Loki growled.

"Or what? You will kill me? I hardly think you are in a position to make threats." the other man mocked him. The brunette moved behind Sigyn and put his hands on her shoulders, breathing in her scent deeply. "Ah, dear, sweet, innocent Sigyn. You are like a succulent fruit ripe for the picking. Did you honestly think I was just going to stand by and let you go to waste in Prince Loki's hands?" It was clear now that he was intent on torturing Loki with his words and he was successful so far. The prince struggled against his bindings, but to no avail. When he tried to call forth his magic to break them, it felt like he had been slammed into a wall. "Oh, you won't be able to get those off. So long as they bind you, your magic will not answer your call." Gingr sneered, angering Loki further.

"Why are you doing this?" Sigyn suddenly asked, her voice soft and shaking. The men were surprised by this, but Gingr quickly recovered.

"Because, my dear, when Lord Aldirr's armies march through the Nine Realms, the House of Odin will fall and I will become Asgard's new king." With this, the brunette put his mouth inches from her ear. "You," he continued, "will be my obedient queen." Sigyn cringed as he kissed the side of her neck.

"I _WILL_ KILL YOU! I DO NOT CARE HOW LONG IT TAKES ME! YOU WILL DIE BY MY HAND!" The tone in Loki's voice was unquestionably murderous. Never before in his life had the dark haired man truly wished to kill someone, but now, given the chance, he would rip Gingr limb from limb. The other man laughed maniacally at him and his glowing orange eyes flared.

"Why so defensive all of the sudden? I thought your only love was magic. I thought you did not hold any affection for your betrothed." Loki was now trying to break his bonds by sheer strength, he was so desperate to get his hands around Gingr's throat. Gingr seemed completely confident that they would not break and so he kept harassing Sigyn. "Now, if you'll swear your allegiance to Lord Aldirr and agree to become my queen, I will unbind you."

"I will never be yours, Gingr. Aldirr has poisoned your mind with delusions of what will never be." Sigyn said, eyeing the crack in the band that held Gingr's hair in a ponytail that she could now see. _He must have been easily twisted..._she thought with a hint of sadness.

"Then I guess I will just have to take what is mine." The brunette's hands began to roam her body and she let out a cry of discomfort. Her heart raced in panic as he began to pull at the top of her dress, but suddenly there was a blast of green light and she was knocked away from him. The sharp rocks on the ground shredded parts of her dress on her left side, sleeve, and thigh and drew blood. A small, knife like stalagmite pierced her shoulder and red spread down her like fire. Ignoring the pain, Sigyn quickly looked over to see what had happened, but all she could see was colliding green and orange. Then it stopped and Loki now stood in front of her in a protective position, facing Gingr and looking insane with anger. "Do you really think you can beat me, Loki Odinson? I have Aldirr's power." Gingr's voice had a formidable ring to it and his eyes looked like they were on fire. A strange laughter came from the prince now, a mischievous mirth that Sigyn had only ever heard stories of. It was the laugh of a Loki going in for the kill on a battlefield.

"Oh, I do not think so; I _know_ so." There was something about the way he said it that scared Sigyn, that made her want to hide away, but she kept watching him in fascination. A large, glowing, green spear formed in his hand and he began to duplicate himself until there was a ring of Lokis around Gingr. They all raised their spears and aimed at their foe and as they stabbed, Gingr roared and a wave of fire burst from his body. The powerful conflicting magics caused a deafening explosion and a blinding flash of light that had Sigyn curling up in a ball. When it was gone, one Loki stood over Gingr's body. The brunette lay dead with several deep puncture wounds in his chest. Blood spread across the ground at an alarming rate, but Loki paid no attention to it, he only turned around and ran to Sigyn's side. Despite the pain of the burns on his hands, he managed to rip her bindings away. The first thing her hands sought were his own and a blue glow appeared as she healed his burns, making his hands look as if they had never been harmed. He stared at her in amazement before noticing that she was covered in blood. "Sigyn, you are bleeding. You need to heal yourself." He watched anxiously as she reached up and pulled a long, thin piece of rock from her shoulder. A heavy gasp of pain escaped her lips and she pressed her right hand to the wound. The blue glow appeared again, but it was brighter this time. It seemed that this injury took far more energy to heal, for Sigyn looked drained when she was done.

"I am so very tired, Loki." she whispered, leaning on the prince's shoulder and closing her eyes. Any other time, he would have just let her sleep, but he couldn't right now.

"Come now, Sigyn. Stay awake for me, please." He gently shook her, but her eyelids only opened a little. A deep, loud laughter like a rock slid suddenly filled the cavern and Loki's green gaze shot toward the darkness.

"Well played, Son of Odin." the voice said. "Your ferocity pleases me."

"You let me loose. Why would you want me to kill him? He was a valuable minion." Loki demanded, making it clear that he knew he couldn't have broken his chains on his own. He held onto Sigyn tightly, subconsciously afraid that she would be taken from him. She was trembling and struggling to keep her eyes open, doing nothing to ease his anxiety.

"Gingr served his purpose. I no longer had need of him. He would have turned on me the moment he realized I had no intention of making him King of Asgard anyway." Aldirr drawled. "I thought it would be entertaining to see him meet his end by your hand. More than that, though, it was a test of your power and I must say, you passed with flying colors." Loki did not need to ask what the dragon wanted from him. He had known for a long time.

"I refuse to be your puppet."

"I was not asking." Suddenly, Loki let out a yelp of pain and fell to his knees, pressing his hands to either side of his head. Sigyn stumbled backwards and collapsed without the prince to lean on. She was jarred into extreme awareness and her gray eyes were wide with fear. "A simple mind shielding spell cannot hold me back for long. I will break you." Aldirr told Loki. The man's groans of anguish were getting louder and Sigyn came to his side, taking hold of his arm.

"Loki! No, no, no, please, no. Do not give in!" she pleaded with him. She couldn't bare the thought of seeing him twisted like Gingr had been.

"Run, Sigyn! I cannot hold him off much longer!" the prince warned, but Sigyn did not listen.

"No. I will not simply abandon you."

"GO!" But it was too late. With a final roar, Loki pushed the woman hard and she was slammed against a thick stalagmite. He stood up and glared at her with a new expression, a predatory one. A strange echo occurred as Aldirr and Loki laughed at the same time and Sigyn scrambled to her feet. Balls of blue magic formed in her hands and her eyes glistened with the onset of tears. She did not want to fight Loki, but if he attacked her, she would have no choice but to defend herself or die. "Dearest Sigyn, do you really think those piddly little spells can hurt me? It's not like you have the will to kill me anyway." Loki walked up to her menacingly, grabbing both of her wrists and forcing her magic to dissipate. He leaned toward her so that his face was a mere two inches from hers and he spoke again, a cruel smile on his lips. "I could crush you effortlessly right this second of I wanted to and you would be _powerless_ to stop me." A shiver traveled down Sigyn's spine at these words. This was not Loki. It couldn't be. Her heart rate spiked as he squeezed her wrists and he laughed again. "You know, if you just submitted to Lord Aldirr's will, you would not have to die and we could be together always." It took one long moment of staring into Loki's emerald orbs for Sigyn's answer to form in her mouth and when she finally spoke, her voice was soft, but it carried a defiance that steadied it.

"No." the blond said simply.

"That was a bad answer, but I will give you some time to think on it." With this, lime green tendrils of magic snaked up her arms and around her head and she fell unconscious. Loki caught her in his arms as she collapsed and he heard a disapproving snort come from the dragon. "She may be useful later, my lord. She can dream the future."

"Indeed. You will be a much better right hand than Gingr Ynson." Aldirr praised the prince. He grinned and gave a small bow.

"Thank you, my lord."

"Now, hurry up and lock her away. We have much work to do."

"Yes, my lord." Loki carried the limp Sigyn out of the cavern without another word.

* * *

><p>Lady Sigyn awoke in a small room and she found herself chained to a wall. For a moment she was confused, but then she remembered what had happened and she began to openly weep. Her sobs reverberated loudly in the room and hot tears rolled down her cheeks as she recalled what Loki had said to her. She felt helpless and alone with no chance of survival. Her crying went on for what seemed like hours until she grew too tired to do it anymore and only the occasional sob escaped her.<p>

"Do not lose hope." The Asgardian suddenly heard a soft, young, feminine voice say in elvish. Sigyn was shocked out of her sorrow and she looked around for the source of the voice, but she could see no one.

"Who are you?" she called back in elvish and listened for a response. For a moment, there was silence and Sigyn assumed it was a voice from her own mind, but then it answered.

"I am Kammyl, Daughter of Kaldri. I am in the cell next to yours."

"I am Sigyn, Daughter of Freya. I am from Asgard."

"I know." This surprised the blond beyond words and her mind exploded with questions. "I have been hearing whispers of you for some time."

"Why are you here?"

"I have abilities Aldirr finds valuable."

"Why has he not simply taken control of you?"

"He is not able to. My will is too strong for him to break." Sigyn let out a sorrowful sigh at this.

"If only-"

"Do not count Prince Loki out just yet. You are known for your unwavering faith, Sigyn of Asgard. You must not let yourself change. If you do, Aldirr will break you and everything will fall to pieces." Kammyl told her, the wisdom of her words seeming odd coming from such a young sounding voice, but never the less, they made Sigyn smile a little. For a long time, she did not respond and only thought over what had been said. Whoever Kammyl was, she had just saved Sigyn's world from falling apart.

"Thank you, Kammyl."

**A/N: Well, I certainly hope you like this and don't hate me for what I did to Loki. Don't worry, the damage isn't permanent. Also, hurray for a new character! Since you haven't really been given a description of what Kammyl looks like (because that would give away certain things), I'll tell you that her voice is supposed to sound a lot like Luna Lovegood's from Harry Potter (if you haven't heard it, I suggest you look it up). Anyway, reviews make me write faster and I love to hear what you think, especially if you have suggestions or questions.**


	6. Worth Fighting For

**A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter six! As of now, this is the longest running fic I have ever uploaded. I enjoy writing it a lot and reading the feedback has built my confidence up from close to nothing. You all deserve ∞ (infinite) hugs. Anyway, please R&R.**

For hours, Sigyn talked to Kammyl Kaldridottir and she learned many things about the girl and about Aldirr. She was the daughter of Kaldrig's dead twin sister and had many gifts, including a formidable command of magic and the ability to skry without the use of a reflective surface (a feat Sigyn had always believed to be impossible to a non-Norn). The Svartalf told her that Aldirr collected special people, people he thought were interesting or useful in some way. It was what made his hoard unique and it was why she had been captured.

In return, Sigyn told the girl everything she wanted to know about her and Loki. Kammyl seemed convinced after learning of the prince's ways that he had locked her away not as punishment, but as protection and was not as subjugated as they might initially think. This gave Sigyn hope if nothing else and she found herself at ease enough to get proper sleep. As if sensing the Asgardian's drowsiness, Kammyl gave her one last piece of advice before allowing her to rest.

"Dare to dream, Sigyn, for they are only what you let them be."

* * *

><p>A voice was calling after Sigyn, telling her to stop, but her feet continued to carry her forward. She unstoppered a small vial and ingested its gray contents. Another desperate cry sounded behind her, but she paid it no heed. With every step, she could feel her body grow numb and she was finding it hard to continue, but she pushed herself to go on towards the loud sounds in front of her. Eventually, she simply could not carry on and she fell to her hands and knees. Abruptly, her numbness inverted and every nerve in her body felt like it was on fire. The blond let out a heart wrenching scream and she was enveloped in silver energy.<p>

* * *

><p>"Wake up, Sigyn." a pleasantly familiar voice said and her eyes snapped open. Lady Amora stood in front of her wearing a sad smile and fingering a strangely familiar amulet that hung around her neck. Noticing that Sigyn saw this, she explained. "Oh, this is Gingr's Amulet of No Boundaries. I stole it from him some time ago. I do not think he ever noticed its absence."<p>

"Are you planning to get me out of here with it?" Sigyn asked sleepily.

"Of course. Once you are free, we will find Loki and Gingr and get out of here before you can get in worse trouble." At the mention of the two men, Sigyn grimaced and felt a pang of heartbreak at the thought of Loki.

"It is not that sim-" she began, but before she could say anything more, the sound of footsteps came to them. "Quickly, Amora! Phase through the wall to your right. There will be a girl on the other side named Kammyl who can help you." Sigyn instructed softly. Amora obeyed her without question and the moment she was gone, Loki came into the room.

"Lord Aldirr would have words with you." he told her before undoing her chains and dragging her out roughly by the arm. She did not resist at all and this seemed to please the prince. "Have you considered my offer?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"I think you are a liar. I know Aldirr will have you kill me the moment I am no longer of value."

"Oh, I'm hurt." he replied, feigning heartbreak. "As if I have never been called a liar before." There was a cruel sarcasm in his voice that was like a dagger to Sigyn, but she did her best not to let on that she was bothered significantly. "It is a shame, though. You would have made an excellent queen." Loki whispered in her ear. In an attempt to play his game, she rolled her eyes and gave a scathing response.

"Look what happened to the last man who wanted me to be his queen."

"Yes, and as I recall, _I_ was the one who killed him. Since the likelihood that I will kill myself is slim to none and I do not see any valiant princes walking around, I do not feel threatened at all." There was a laugh in Loki's voice as he said this that mocked Sigyn sadistically. In hurt her, but she reminded herself that everything he was saying was either an act or Aldirr controlling him, not the real Loki. "You are a clever girl, Sigyn, but you are so very stupid."

"That counts for nothing as long as my will remains intact." she replied defiantly, but he only laughed at her again.

"Oh, we shall see about that." he said just as they came to the large cavern where Aldirr lay in the shadows. "I have brought her." the prince announced.

"Good." As if given some unspoken command, Loki pushed her down to her knees roughly and forced her to bow her head. "Loki tells me that you dream what has yet to come to pass."

"That is true." Though Sigyn hated giving the dragon any amount of satisfaction, she knew that if she said no, she would be dead very soon and that didn't work out at all with her plans.

"Tell me what you have seen." Aldirr ordered. "Do I prevail and get my revenge, or am I felled by a force I am yet unaware of?" This made Sigyn want to laugh in his face because she had not dreamed of an outcome one way or the other. However, she decided to be a little daring.

"I have foreseen your defeat." she told him, wearing the best of her poker faces. Sadly, she had forgotten that she was kneeling next to the greatest liar in all of the Nine Realms and he instantly knew her words were false.

"She lies." Loki interjected.

"So you have seen my victory?"

"I have seen nothing of your future." After she said this, there was a pause in which Loki stared at her and Aldirr was silent, suggesting that he was waiting for an evaluation of the validity of her statement.

"Her words have the ring of truth." Loki finally said. He continued to look at her with an expression that asked 'So what _did_ you dream?'.

"Then I demand that you sleep until you have." This time, Sigyn did laugh, though it was a cynical one that did not suit her at all. It was the sound of a person who knew she did not have much longer to live.

"It is not that simple, you fool. I cannot force myself to dream, nor can I be choosey of what I see." At this, a rumble of rage came from the darkness, but Sigyn no longer feared the dragon. She knew she was going to die, but she stood up in defiance.

"Then you are no longer of use to me." he growled. "Loki, stand aside so that I may teach this wench my wrath." As the trickster moved out of the way, Sigyn sensed movement in the darkness and the majestic reptilian head of Aldirr emerged. His scales were a dull blue-black and his eyes were a burning reddish-orange that seemed to stare into her very soul. When the rest of his body failed to emerge, she was slightly confused as to what he was planning to do, but then he opened his mouth and her eyes widened. A huge jet of flame shot directly toward her, but she stood her ground and with a swiping hand motion, she deflected the attack into a group of goblins standing nearby. Before Aldirr could realize that he hadn't managed to vaporize her, she bolted, weaving her way past the goblins trying to stop her. "KILL HER!" the dragon roared angrily. Sigyn didn't dare look back as she ran as quickly as she could through the narrow passageways of the mountain. She could hear little voices shouting for her demise, but she knew the goblins were the least of her worries. Loki was probably close behind her.

Soon, she was making her way along the cliffs on the outside of the mountain and when Sigyn reached a dead end, her heart was pounding as she looked back to see Loki approaching her. With nowhere to go but over the cliff, she knew this was where it was all going to end. When he finally stood before her, Loki smiled sadistically and spoke.

"Such a shame, but I never really cared for you anyway, so it is not much of a loss." He grabbed her shoulders as if getting ready to shove her, but he hesitated. There was a faltering in the sinister gleam in his green eyes and an agitated voice spoke in his mind. _Prove your dedication to me...push her off and end it..._and he pushed her. She fell backwards down the side of the mountain and opened her arms wide in anticipation. However, as the wind rushed past her, she realized that what she was anticipating wasn't her death, but her rescue. Something about that brief, almost undetectable moment of hesitation she had seen in Loki assured her that this had been part of his plan all along and any minute now, something was going to save her. Sure enough, long green, tendrils of magic came down from where she had fallen and wrapped themselves around her waist firmly, abruptly halting her descent. This confirmed all of her hopes and that her faith in Loki had not been at all foolhardy and Kammyl had been right all along. Sigyn felt tears roll down her cheeks once again, but this time, they were tears of joy.

"Loki, you wonderful, clever, handsome man." she said softly, holding tightly to the green magic that had saved her. As she hung there, weeping with happiness, Sigyn came to realize just how much she loved Loki and that she always had.

* * *

><p>Once Amora had phased through the cell, she turned and rested her ear against the wall, listening to Loki. She grimaced and when Sigyn and the prince had gone, she looked around the cell she was now in. A Svartalf girl stared up at her and Amora gasped in surprise.<p>

"You are Kammyl?" she asked. The girl nodded and smiled, though all Amora could notice was her white eyes. "You are blind?" The question seemed strange as Kammyl appeared to be looking straight at her.

"Yes and no. My eyes are not physically capable of receiving light signals, but magic allows me to see not only what is around me, but what has been, and sometimes what will be." she explained, her words seeming odd in such a childlike voice.

"I can see why Sigyn said you could help me."

"Indeed. We must hurry or her fate will be out of our control." The meaning clear in Kammyl's words, Amora broke her chains and phased with her through the wall.

* * *

><p>The second prince of Asgard gazed off the side of the cliff for a few long moments before turning around and walking all the way back to Aldirr's lair. He felt drained both physically and mentally as the amount of effort he was putting into tricking the dragon was great. He had created a duel reality in his mind, one was what Aldirr saw in him and the other was the truth. It took all of his willpower to keep the boundary between the two intact. When he sauntered into Aldirr's lair, he once again adorned that believable devious smile of his and pretended to be the servant Aldirr thought he had created.<p>

"Sigyn is dead. Her crumpled body lies at the foot of the mountain." he told him. The words felt like poison in his mouth, but he still put on a look of cruel satisfaction.

"Good. She was beginning to be quite a nuisance." Aldirr replied, his voice sounding like rocks grinding together in a cacophony of sick pleasure. It disgusted Loki, but he had no choice except to continue to appear wicked. "Now, I need you to-" the tyrant began, but he was interrupted by the sound of fighting and a minute later, several Asgardians and Dark Elves came bursting through one entrance to the cavern chased by a swarm of enraged goblins. The Asgardians he recognized as Prince Thor, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three, which infuriated him. "Destroy them, Loki!" he commanded, looking to the black haired man as he emerged from the shadows entirely, his dark, scaly form seeming rather small for a dragon until he flexed his enormous leathery wings. Loki was not paying too much attention to this as he was preoccupied with the appearance of his brother.

"What are you doing here?"

"Lady Amora showed us the way. She said you might need help." the muscular blond answered with a smile as he smashed a goblin. Loki raised his eyebrows at this and turned back to Aldirr. He no longer saw a reason for his façade and dispelled the mental illusion he had put the dragon under, causing the creature to let out a roar of rage. Before the prince could be hit with Aldirr's fiery wrath, he flicked his wrist at the roof of the cavern and a shower of massive rocks rained down upon the dragon, pinning him to the ground.

"DAMN YOU, LOKI ODINSON!" Aldirr roared, struggling under the weight of a number of building sized boulders.

"I assure you the feeling is mutual. Now, if you will excuse me, I believe I left something hanging from a cliff." Loki sneered before turning sharply on his heel and heading out of his enemy's lair, leaving it to the others to keep the situation under control. Any goblins that attempted to engage him were swiftly killed with smallest of wrist movements. He would let nothing stand between him and Sigyn now.

When he started making his way around the outside of the mountain, he found the chilling wind refreshing and it cleared his head, though he could not really feel the cold much. The gray sky reminded Loki vividly of Sigyn's eyes and the longer he looked up, the more greatly he desired to see them again. That made his pace quicken and he soon reached the place where his betrothed had fallen. Feeling through the air for the ropes of magic he had used to rescue her, he grasped them tightly and began hauling her up. As she came into view, he could see her smiling up at him with an expression he had never seen anyone give him before. It gave him a strange feeling in his stomach as if butterflies were flying around inside him.

Once he had her safely away from the edge, he released the glowing green ropes and they evaporated. Almost immediately, Sigyn wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace and he didn't hesitate to return the gesture, feeling as if something lost had been returned to him.

"Sigyn, I want you to know that everything I said to you, all the pain I caused you, I meant none of it. I was only trying to fool Aldirr. I would never intentionally hurt you." he told her after breaking away. She gave him that little knowing grin of hers in return.

"I know."

"You mean-" Loki began in astonishment.

"I could never truly believe that Aldirr had managed to break you." At these words, Loki stared at the woman as if she was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on, for to him, she certainly was. She had kept her faith in him through it all and had seen through his lies. No one had ever trusted him like that before and it brought a warm feeling into his heart that made him decide that Sigyn was the thing he loved most in all of the Nine Realms. Without even thinking, he cupped her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers. At first, she seemed surprised, but she quickly put her arms around his neck and kissed him back. The moment seemed to last for hours, but they did eventually break apart and Loki rested his forehead against Sigyn's.

"I love you." he whispered to her and she closed her eyes and smiled sweetly.

"And I you." she responded, entwining her fingers with his. He kissed her again, more deeply this time and, of course, she obliged. It seemed as if time had stopped for them and the only things in the world were them and their affection for each other. Sadly, time could not stop and there were still horrible things going on around them. Sooner or later, duty was going to call.

"I think there is a world in need of saving." Loki finally said in a tone that made it clear that given the choice, he would stay like this with Sigyn forever. She nodded silently and they began to walk back to Aldirr's lair, hand in hand.

**A/N: Yay for redeeming Loki...and shameless LokixSigyn moments! You would not believe how fast I was typing when I was writing the end of this chapter, my ideas were flowing so smoothly. Also, what do you think of Kammyl now? Were you surprised by her blindness? I'm eager to hear everything you have to say, so please review. All the cookies in the world to you if you do. ~T.Z.**


	7. Tragedy

**A/N: Hiya! I'm sorry for the really long wait for this chapter. The past week was insanely busy for me. I hope you enjoy this. Please R&R. EDIT: Okay, something funky happened with the posting, so I reposted this chapter**

**WARNING: This chapter contains fantasy violence, monologues, and Amora being a shameless LokixSigyn fangirl.**

"We must find Amora and Kammyl." Sigyn told Loki as they walked swiftly through the passageways inside Wolf Reach. She didn't bother explaining who Kammyl was, assuming Loki had learned a great deal about Aldirr's prisoners during the time he was able to see what the dragon was thinking.

"Would they be helping the others?" the prince asked. The look of confusion he got in response told him he should elaborate. "Thor, Sif, the Warriors Three, and the Dark Elf rebels were alerted by Lady Amora of our situation and they came to our aid. She must have some sort of fast communication spell. Anyway, they are fighting Aldirr and his minions now. Perhaps the two have joined the others in the fight." Sigyn raised her eyebrows at this before nodding.

"Perhaps. Either that or they are looking for me."

"Lady Sigyn!" they suddenly heard a young voice call. Looking over, they saw Amora and a Svartalf girl hurrying toward them. Sigyn was shocked as she realize the elf was Kammyl. The girl definitely looked like she could be Kaldrig's niece but for her blank white eyes. How could she see? She did not act as if she was blind. In fact, she had an air of confidence in the way she walked, as though she knew exactly what she was doing. Kammyl's striking, purposeful, pearly gaze was locked on Sigyn as she came up to her. The Asgardian immediately noticed her child stature, but paid no mind to it, for Kammyl commanded respect just in the way she held herself alone. "It is good that you are with Prince Loki. I was right to think your will is unbreakable."

"Thank you, Kammyl." Though she had not known the girl for very long, Sigyn found that she valued Kammyl's praise very highly and Loki noticed. He wondered if the blond also sensed the enormous amount of magical power that radiated from the Dark Elf. It was not threatening in any way, but it was still fascinating to him. Kammyl was a blind girl would could see better than most and possessed a wisdom uncommon to those five times her senior, yet she was a mere child. No wonder Aldirr had sought to add her to his hoard. She was a gem.

"We must hurry. If we do not bring down Aldirr soon, we will have more than swarms of goblins to worry about. He will call upon an army of not only Dark Elves bent to his will, but some of the foulest beasts known to walk the Nine Realms." Kammyl was all business as she spoke again. Sigyn seemed to know exactly what sorts of monsters the girl was referring to, for her eyes held a hint of fear in them and that worried Loki.

"Amora, have you found a way to kill Aldirr?" he asked his former teacher. The Enchantress seemed to be knocked out of some sort of daydream at the sound her name. She had been busy staring at Loki and Sigyn's hand holding with an expression of barely concealed joy.

"Yes, I have. Although I never would have thought of it had Sigyn not told us about the Forest of Lingering Sorrows." Amora began. "I remembered her saying that the necromancer who had once lived there caused everything in the forest to become vile and twisted while I read an essay on a battle between that necromancer and Aldirr when he was a guardian of the realm. Apparently, his magic was too weak and he was driven out of the forest by the black magic." As she spoke, a look of realization dawned on Sigyn's face and her thoughts were voiced when her former teacher continued. "Sigyn also said that three of her five guards did not return to Alfheim with her, but I have a hard time believing three Alfar warriors could be so easily felled by the creatures in the Forest of Lingering Sorrows. They must have eaten the black fruits of the trees. If what made that fruit poison was black magic that had previously defeated Aldirr, whose to say it couldn't defeat him again." With this, Amora took from nowhere a small vial of gray liquid and showed it to the other three. "I made a cocktail of the juice from the black fruit and a potion that destroys the nervous system. Unfortunately, we have no way of getting him to drink it and the only method I can think of using it on him is if one of us were to drink it and force our magic to absorb it through the bloodstream before directing a beam spell at his face, causing the poison to leak into his body through his mouth, nose and eyes." For a moment, the four just stared apprehensively at each other until Amora went on. "The risk is extremely high. If the spellcaster does not purge all of the poison out through the beam, it could be fatal. In fact, a high risk is already presented by the sheer amount of energy that would be needed in the blast itself. Whoever does this must consider that the chance of survival is roughly ten percent." The four looked at each other solemnly and for a long while, no one said anything, but then Sigyn took the initiative.

"I will do it." she said, holding out her hand to accept the vial of poison.

"No. As Prince of Asgard, it is my duty to take such a risk for the Realm. I will do it." Loki interrupted. Sigyn saw the subtext of his concern for her life in his words. It was clear that he would rather possibly die defending her than see her in agony. However, the blond felt the same way towards him and so the decision of who would do it was left to Amora. Either way, one of her former students might die, so it was a hard choice, but she ultimately handed the vial to Loki. He took it, much to Sigyn's chagrin, but she was somewhat reassured when he tightened his hold on her hand as a way of saying that he had no plans to die.

"It is time. We must go. The others need us. They have only weakened Aldirr a little. If he is not fatigued soon, we may lose this battle." Kammyl suddenly said and the other three nodded before making their way to Aldirr's abode.

As they drew closer, the sound of battle could easily be heard and it wasn't long before they could see the battle itself. Aldirr had freed himself from the rocks Loki had brought down upon him and now over two hundred goblins were on the scene, trying to bring down the Asgardians and Dark Elves while still avoiding Aldirr's sweeping attacks. A burst of fire shot towards Sif as she impaled two goblins at once and almost effortlessly, she blocked it with her shield. Volstagg had managed to kill a few of the creatures merely by body slamming them while Fandral and Hogun stabbed and smashed their way through the onslaught. Thor seemed to actually be having fun as he killed goblins three at a time with his hammer. The Svartalfar were not fairing quite as well since most of them were the closest to Aldirr. Many of them had been burnt to death or crushed beneath the dragon's claws. However, some of them had managed to repeated escape death and distract his attention away from the arrival of Loki, Sigyn, Amora, and Kammyl. Almost immediately, Kaldrig ran to them, gutting a goblin as he went, and embraced Kammyl.

"You are alive...thank goodness." the elf breathed, holding tightly to his dear niece. She was the only family he had left. "Your Uncle Tilimdar is dead. You and I are the last of the bloodline."

"I know." Kammyl replied. She had known for some time of her younger uncle's death and had already done her mourning for him. She would have preferred if Kaldrig had not reiterated the issue now when time was of the essence.

"Ahem, I do believe there are more pressing matters at hand." Loki spoke up, earning him a glare from Kaldrig that made it clear that he had not forgotten the circumstances of their last meeting.

"You speak to the rightful heir to the throne of Svartalfheim. Show some respect." the male elf snapped, making Kammyl suddenly appear to be a little embarrassed. She told him softly that it was fine and Loki had not been disrespectful, but no one seemed to notice as they were too surprised by this new development.

"Are you say-" the Asgardian prince began, but he was interrupted by Kaldrig.

"My family served the royal family for many years. My twin sister, Kaldri, became one of the King's personal assistants like our mother before her. She grew very close to the King and was his most trusted servant. Somewhere along the line, a romance bloomed between them and produced this child. Her true name is Kammyl Ildardottir and she is our late king's firstborn." The others stared in shock at the Svartalf girl, who had her gaze fixed on the ground. Seeing their silence as a prompt to continue, Kaldrig went on. "King Ildar promised to provide Kammyl with the best education available so long as word of her royal blood never got out. No one would have believed it if they heard anyway because they would not believe the daughter of a king could be born blind."

"What happened to her mother?" Amora asked, a look of sympathy on her face.

"Kaldri died shortly after giving birth. I barely had time to say goodbye before Kammyl was given to me." There was a bitterness in Kaldrig's voice as he spoke that suggested he thought the healers had let his sister die.

"I am sorry." Sigyn told him, hanging her head.

"It is not you who should be sorry. The man I wanted to hear an apology from is now dead."

"Uncle, let us not dwell upon the past when we must worry for the future." Kammyl suddenly said, turning everyone's attention back to the battle around them.

"Right." With this, the group dispersed and they threw themselves into the battle. Loki summoned a spear of green magic in his hand and ran through a number of goblins. Sigyn blasted a whole row of the creatures with blue energy, earning her a smile from her betrothed. As they fought, they could see Aldirr's movements growing slightly sluggish as he attempted to crush and burn the quick footed Svartalfar attacking him. The time for the final blow would be soon, but Loki pushed his nervousness to the back of his mind.

"Come forth, my fanged servants! Feast upon the flesh of these fools!" Aldirr called out, his voice cutting through the air in a most terrifying sound. A pack of wolves five times bigger than normal came bursting into the cavern, howling and snarling menacingly. Seeing this, Kammyl turned to Loki with wide eyes.

"Now! Do it now!" she commanded. He nodded and reached into his belt for the vial...and found it wasn't there. By the time he had looked up, Sigyn was already walking briskly toward the dragon.

"No! Stop!" he cried, but was too late. She had drunken the potion. "Sigyn!" Everything seemed to be in slow motion as the blond collapsed to her knees, her body having grown completely numb.

"I am sorry, my love, but Asgard needs you far more." the woman choked. Then she began to rise off the ground and silver energy gathered around her. When her ascent stopped, the magic grew very bright and screams of agony escaped her. This quickly drew Aldirr's attention and a flicker of fear crossed his reptilian face.

"What manner of trickery is this! The man who wielded that magic is dead!" The silver light seemed to hurt Aldirr's eyes, but he did not close them. Instead, he opened his mouth to unleash his fiery breath. However, before he could call up the fire, the silver light focused into a single beam and struck him directly in his gaping maw, ripping his flesh asunder until he lay in many pieces. The Tyrant was no more.

Energy completely spent, the silver magic faded and Sigyn fell from the air, landing with an ominous thump on the stoney ground. Loki was the first to reach her limp form and he knelt beside her, pulling her into his arms.

"Sigyn, stay with me." he whispered, detecting a pulse, faint as it was. Sif and Kaldrig came up to them and the Dark Elf knelt down to take Sigyn's hand in both his own and examining her face.

"She does not have much longer to live. Traces of the poison remain in her body and if she is not brought to a healer soon, she will die." he diagnosed gravely.

"We must hurry. I will clear a path for you to get out of here. My brother will open the Bifrost the moment he sees you outside." Sif said and Loki scooped Sigyn up before running as quickly as he could behind the dark hair woman. She speedily dealt with goblins trying to prevent their escape, though two of those enormous wolves were not so easy. "Go on ahead!" Sif yelled and the prince did not hesitate to leave her behind. He knew she could hold her own and besides, he had much bigger things to worry about.

Once again, Loki Odinson found himself standing on the snowy slopes of Wolf Reach, heart racing. He turned his emerald gaze to the gray sky and shouted as loudly as he was physically able.

"HEIMDALL!" The man's voice echoed across the mountains as the familiar light of the Bifrost struck him and pulled him through the sky. In seconds, he found himself in the Observatory with Heimdall looking upon him sorrowfully with his honey colored eyes. Loki's horse was waiting dutifully outside and he quickly mounted it, holding Sigyn's lifeless form firmly in front of him. Pulling roughly on the reins, the horse galloped with much haste across the bridge and into the city. Commoners and nobles alike moved indignantly out of the way as he raced through the streets and when he saw a tall cart of produce blocking his way, he did not bother to say anything; he just made his horse jump over it. He had now attracted quite a lot of attention and by the time he reached the healers' dwelling, he was followed by a small crowd. The healers rushed out and guided him to a small room, gesturing for him to lay Sigyn down on the bed. He did this, but did not let go of her hand, determined not to let her out of his sight. Unfortunately, this was not going to work for the healers.

"Prince Loki, I am going to have to ask you to leave. Your presence hinders our work." one of them said. He shot the woman a look of outrage at this.

"No! I must stay with her!" he protested.

"I assure you, my lord, we will do everything in our power to try to save her." another said and before he could utter another word of protest, Loki was shoved rather unceremoniously out the door. He was glad to see the crowd had not followed him inside, but it still left him to pace alone outside the door of the room alone. Each minute passing by felt like hours and the prince's mind was filled with worry for the thing he held most dear. He couldn't bare the thought of her dying. If she was gone, he didn't know if he could go on living. He wanted to see smiling at him again, wanted to touch her and know that everything was going to be alright. He was only rescued from his dark thoughts when he saw Frigga and Baldr approach.

"We came as soon as we heard. How is she?" Frigga spoke, embracing her son tightly.

"I do not know. It has been hours and no one has said anything."

"What happened?" Baldr asked. He was an adolescent, but he was old enough to understand the weight of the situation, even though he had yet to see battle.

"Lady Sigyn performed a very dangerous spell that left her barely alive. Whether or not she will remain alive is the question." Loki explained, but not feeling ready to go into full detail about _why_ such a spell had been needed. The story was far too long for his mood.

"Where is brother?"

"He is still in Svartalfheim."

"And Sif?"

"With Thor."

"Are they going to be alright?"

"Of course."

"I hope Lady Sigyn is going to be alright."

"Me too." Loki strangely found this conversation with his little brother somewhat soothing. Frigga seemed to notice this because she did not interrupt and only sat quietly, wearing sympathetic smile. Loki was about to speak again, but a healer came out and approached him. "How is she?"

"Lady Sigyn had very severe internal wounds. We managed to stabilize her and repair most of the damage, but the rest of it is entirely up to her body. She has a roughly sixty percent chance of survival." she informed him. This did very little to quiet his worries.

"If she lives, will there be lasting effects?"

"She would recover fully, though she may experience a little numbness when she does any complex spellcasting." This was a relief to hear.

"May I see her?" At this, the healer nodded and Loki followed her into the room. He went and sat beside Sigyn and held her hand in both his own. She slept peacefully, her expression devoid of fear, worry, or sadness. It was calming just to look at her and be able touch her knowing she was safe and might live. The prince vowed to himself that he would not leave her side until she woke up.

**A/N: ...and there it is. Loki is such a valiant knight (*I mean _sorcerer_) sometimes. What do you think of Kaldrig now? Has your opinion of him changed? Also, YAY FOR ALDIRR'S DEATH! That part was a lot of fun to write. I feel kinda bad for doing this to Sigyn, but hey, she's entitled to be heroic too. Anyway, please review. There will be at least a couple more chapters I think. I'm also considering some sequel ideas.**


	8. Acceptance

**A/N: Sorry it took a little while for an update. As always, the reviews/favs/alerts all mean a lot to me and I love you guys. Please enjoy and R&R.**

**WARNING: This chapter contains suggestive situations, excessive Logyn fluff, and a dirty joke.**

Dreams flitted in and out of Lady Sigyn's mind as she lay unconscious. She saw brief glimpses of things both past and future including her father's death and the faces of two young, dark haired boys who looked vaguely like Loki. For a long time this went on, as if the Fates could not decide what to show her, but eventually, her mind settled on something from the past. She saw a boy Loki with his arm around her, whispering words of comfort. This was shortly after her father's death and she was crying. Of all of the Aesir members of the court, little Loki was the only one who seemed to hold any true sympathy for her. It was strange, but she found it oddly comforting. She didn't care for distinctions between Aesir and Vanir, as a mere child, she only knew that Loki was being a good friend to her.

Suddenly, time skipped and they were adolescents now. They were sitting alone together in a grove Amora had showed them as a private place for them to practice magic. The discussion between them was about Sigyn's plans to study in Alfheim and Loki did not want her to go. He wanted her to stay and continue to study with him, but she told him that she wanted desperately to see the world. Knowing that she could not be stopped, Loki watched her leave with a sad expression. He called out to her and when she turned to look back at him, he handed her a piece of green string. She looked at it quizzically and he told her to sew it into the inside of her headband. It was not enchanted at all. It was a mere good luck charm. She gave him a sweet smile and thanked him, but she told him they were getting too old for such things and bid him farewell before tucking away the string and leaving.

Then the dream went ahead to the future. She saw two boys with dark hair sitting on either side of Loki. He was reading to them and they stared at the book in his hands with fascination. When he noticed her standing there, he looked up and smiled. The two boys saw her as well and they jumped up to embrace her warmly. They spoke excitedly to her and she smiled at them and patted their heads. They filled her with feelings of love and pride, though she knew not why. Loki called to them and they returned to their positions on either side of him. It was then that she saw how much they resembled him.

* * *

><p>Sigyn's gray eyes eased open to see Loki sitting next to her, holding tightly to her hand. When he noticed that she was awake, he smiled and his green eyes glistened with held back tears. She reached up and put her hand to the side of his face and he put his hand on top of hers, holding it there. For a moment, they just looked at each other, but then Loki leaned down and kissed her gently. It didn't last long, but it was enough for him to tell her just how glad he was to see her awake.<p>

"Do not ever do that to me again." he said with a hint of humor. Sigyn could tell that he was referring to her little stunt that had gotten her bedridden. She smiled at this and gave a small chuckle.

"Of course." she replied, her voice barely a whisper for lack of strength. The woman's entire body ached, but she did not care. The only thing that mattered was that she was alive and her beloved Loki was with her. She noticed that his black hair was in slight disarray and there were dark circles under his eyes as if he had not slept in a very long time. "How long have you been here?"

"Three days and nights." By the look of it, he hadn't eaten or slept during that entire time. Sigyn was surprised the healers had let him, but there was only so much you could force the second prince of Asgard to do. "They said your chance of survival was only sixty percent. I had no desire to leave."

"As you can see, I am well. I suggest you get some rest or find something to eat." Loki nodded at this and told her that he would be back soon before hesitantly leaving.

The healers kept her there for another week before they deemed her recovered, though she didn't mind because Loki would visit her every day. When Amora, Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three returned, they came to see her and were happy that she was doing well. They told her that things were getting much better in Svartalfheim. There had been a small snafu over who would take the throne, because Ildar's son claimed his legitimacy and his gender made him the rightful heir, but the royal court thought him incompetent. After Odin endorsed Kammyl, the decision was final and she was made queen. This pleased Sigyn and her particularly good mood helped speed her recovery.

When Sigyn left the healers and returned home, she was greeted enthusiastically by her mother, who embraced her.

"It is good to see you well again. You have honored this family with your bravery and self-sacrifice." Freya told her daughter, smiling brightly. The young woman blushed at these words, not remembering the last time her mother had praised her in such a way. She had always been the detached, strange one of Freya's many children and was the one least noticed, but now, she was being given a great deal of attention. "Odin seeks to formally honor you and Prince Loki for your accomplishments. He's holding a ceremony and celebration for you tomorrow. I am told you are to be treated as victorious warriors. It is an Aesir custom, but it makes me proud."

"Thank you, mother. It means much to me." Sigyn replied, smiling herself. She had succeeded in more than saving the Nine Realms. Through her sacrifice and show of immense magical ability, she had proven her worth to all and that filled her with joy. "I will see you at the ceremony tomorrow. I have many things I wish to do. Farewell." she said before leaving. Freya looked after her, sad that Sigyn had not stayed long, but happy to see her return to normalcy.

* * *

><p>Lady Sigyn sat silently in the middle of her favorite grove in the forest just outside of the royal gardens. She had not been there since she had returned from Alfheim two years ago, but it brought back memories from her childhood. It felt like only yesterday that she had come here looking for Loki after he had cut Sif's hair and he had given her a beautiful flower in exchange for not revealing his location. Then suddenly she remembered the last time she had been here and she took off her black headband to see the green string sewn to the inside. An amused smile graced her lips as she realized she had dreamt that memory. Before she could think on that dream further, she heard a deep, playful, familiar voice come from behind her.<p>

"Fancy meeting you here. Feeling nostalgic, are we?" At this, Sigyn abruptly stood and turned to the man who had addressed her, hiding her headband behind her back as she did so. Unfortunately, he had already seen it and the green string. "My, my, I never knew you to be so sentimental. To think you still have that silly piece of string after all these years. I never expected you to actually keep it. I thought you would discard it moments after you had gone."

"Why, Loki? Because you thought you meant nothing to me? That my comment about childishness was proof of it? I admit, I thought the string was silly at first, but I kept it because I found that it possessed something better than any enchantment you could have placed on it." Sigyn replied, stepping closer to Loki, still smiling.

"And that would be?"

"Proof that there is good in you and good in this world, even in the most difficult of times. It kept me going when things got rough in Alfheim." This vividly reminded Loki of why he had fallen for this woman. She saw in him things that no one else did. She had believed in him even when it seemed that he had betrayed her. She trusted him and loved him even though he was reputed to be a trickster. She was beautiful, kind, understanding, and loyal. She was everything he could ever want in a woman.

"I am not worthy of you, Sigyn. You are too kind and too wise." he returned, now looking somewhat melancholy. "You are deserving of a much better man. Only a fool would marry someone like me." At this, Sigyn came even closer to Loki, reaching out and taking hold of his hand.

"I would much rather be a happy fool than a sad sage." Her words brought a mischievous grin to Loki's face. It was an expression Sigyn knew well and had come to love. Now she got to see it very close up as the green eye man's turn to come closer.

"Do you know what happens to fools?" he said slyly. She leered back at him and decided to play along.

"No. Please enlighten me." They were very close now, but it didn't last for long, because Loki began to chase Sigyn around the grove, both of them laughing and the blond letting out little squeaks every time he nearly caught her. However, the chase ended when she tripped on an inconvenient stone and he crashed into her, causing both of them to tumble to the ground. They rolled around in the grass for a while, wrestling with one another and still laughing. Somewhere along the line, their mouths met and the struggling stopped.

"You are a beautiful fool." Loki whispered before kissing her again, having no further words for what he was feeling.

* * *

><p>Sigyn returned home that evening and Freya frowned upon noticing that her daughter's hair was in slight disarray and smelled like grass.<p>

"Where have you been? I have been waiting for you to return so you could be outfitted for armor. You will need it for the ceremony." the woman said, ignoring the fact that Sigyn was too full of joy to pay much attention.

"Oh, I was just out...enjoying nature." Freya, for all her wisdom, was too busy fussing over the ceremonial armor to notice that Sigyn obviously had been having a lot more fun than someone who had just been enjoying nature. "We can fit my armor now, mother. I do not mind." Sigyn proceeded to stand contently as tailors and armorers adjusted the outfit without complaining. When it was done, she went to bed and fell asleep immediately without so much as a "Good Night" to her mother.

* * *

><p>The moment he saw Sigyn in her armor, Loki was entranced. She looked so very regal and graceful in it. A billowing green cape fell from her pauldrons (shoulder guards), which were adorned with majestic arcs in tribute to her father's style. Golden plate and black leather covered her torso in magnificent designs and a long, flowing black skirt hung from her belt. It was a work of art that Loki took the opportunity to take in as he stood with Sigyn just outside the throne room, waiting for the doors to open and cue them to enter. He held out his hand to her and she took it without question, not caring what people might say. She was not going to hide her engagement to him. She was proud to be his future wife.<p>

"Nervous, love?" he asked humorously. The woman gave a small laugh and locked her gaze with his.

"Not as long as you are with me." In truth, Sigyn was a little nervous. She had never been formally presented with a gift from Odin or been recognized by all of Asgard for her deeds before. Loki noticed this and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Then the huge golden doors opened and they were greeted with loud cheering. They began to walk together down the aisle to the throne and smiled and waved at the crowd, in disbelief that they were cheering for _them_ and no one else. Up ahead, they could see Thor and his friends as well as Frigga, Baldr, Freya, and Amora standing by Odin, looking at Loki and Sigyn with pride in their eyes. On a pedestal in front of the AllFather sat two golden objects. When the two got closer, they could see that they were a helmet and a headdress.

When the reached the bottom step to Odin's throne, Loki and Sigyn bowed and gave warrior salutes and the room fell quiet.

"Loki Odinson, my second born, Sigyn Iwaldidottir, my son's wife-to-be," the bearded man began, commanding the attention of all. "We come here today to celebrate your defeat of a threat that has loomed over the Nine Realms for far too long. Without your exceptional show of bravery and formidable command of the art of magic, Yggdrasil would be suffering this day. On behalf of Asgard, I thank you." There was a pause in which there was much applause before Odin continued. "As an everlasting show of gratitude, the Elves have made you the gifts you see before me." With this, he stood up and took the helmet in his hands before placing it on Loki's head. The large, cow/goat like horns that arced from it suited the dark haired man well and he smiled. "For your quick wit and courage, I give thee the helm 'Taefalir' and the title 'Loki Skywalker'." Then Odin turned to the blond and placed the headdress upon her head. "For your steadfast loyalty and self sacrifice, I give thee the headdress 'Älskir' and the title 'Sigyn Victorybringer'." There was much applause at this and Freya's eyes glistened with held back tears. It had been a long time since she had seen a Vanir honored like this and for it to be her daughter was icing on the cake. Odin strangely seemed just as happy about this as she was, but he decided to speak of something else that held even greater significance. "Let it be known that this day, Prince Loki and Lady Sigyn have proven that no matter if you are male or female, Aesir or Vanir, there is honor is sorcery. For they have done what no warrior could do." This was music to Loki's ears and his smile grew to a full on grin as he heard the cheering from the crowd. He had longed for so many years to gain his father's approval of his pursuit of magic. Now he felt that he had gotten it to a certain degree. Sigyn was feeling similarly for no one had really ever thought she would amount to much, but she had proven everyone wrong. "Now, let us celebrate." With that, the throne room began to empty as the Asgardians left to eat, drink, dance, and be merry as they always did when a celebration was at hand. Loki and Sigyn went off to the banquet hall with Thor and the others, feeling unusually happy. Taking seats at the table, they joked and told stories as they ate, though the subject of Loki's helmet was a favorite.

"Nice horns, brother." Thor said with a grin. The others laughed and as always, Loki had a clever retort just waiting to slip off his silver tongue.

"Yes, that brings me up to a total of three in comparison to your zero." he replied, eyeing Thor's feathered helm with amusement. The men laughed loudly and Sigyn and Sif pretended they hadn't gotten it, but they still had to cover their mouths to disguise their laughter. Thor decided it was best not to egg his dark hair brother on for fear evoking an even more snippy and embarrassing response. Instead, he merely changed the subject.

"Good show, brother. Now tell us about what happened before we arrived in Svartalfheim." At this, Loki and Sigyn eagerly told the others of everything of significance that happened with occasional interjections from Amora, who sat across from Thor, looking cheery. They edited the story slightly so as to avoid any embarrassment on Sigyn or Loki's part, leaving out much detail on Gingr Ynson's actions but never the less painting him as the traitor he was. None of them had ever liked the man and Asgard had not shed a single tear at the news of his death.

"That is quite a tale." Baldr commented. The boy had given his full attention to Loki and Sigyn through the entire story. He was fascinated by adventure and depictions of other realms, having never been permitted to leave Asgard himself. His older brothers smiled at him and told him that one day, he could come with them to other worlds and fight in glorious battles, which always appeased him, but they made sure to remind him that battle was not always fun.

"Our victory was not without sacrifice. We nearly lost Lady Sigyn." Loki said, tightening his grip on the woman's hand involuntarily. She gave them a sad smile and the others all silently agreed that they were grateful that she was still among them. Volstagg held up his goblet to make a toast.

"To Lady Sigyn's unbreakable will!" he boomed and the others grinned and clinked their goblets together. Sigyn blushed and sipped her mead and they laughed warmly. It was just like old times and she loved it.

**A/N: ...and voilà. I hope you enjoyed that enormous amount of LokixSigyn fluff. I've been thinking of creating some illustrations for this story, so please let me know if that's something you'd be interested in seeing. There _will_ be at least one more chapter of this and possibly an epilogue if needed, so stay tuned for Aesir/Vanir politics and a wedding. On that note, I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am to everyone who is reading this story and every time I get a review, it makes my day. ~T.Z.**


	9. Epilogue

**A/N: I am soooo sorry for not updating sooner. For some reason, I had terrible writer's block for an entire week, but I did manage to crank this out. I can just picture my brain wearing a troll face right now. Anyway this is the last chapter. Originally, I planned to have this chapter and then a separate epilogue, but the epilogue I wrote was too short to be made a whole other chapter, so I stuck it in here and named the whole thing epilogue. As always I appreciate ever single review/fav/alert I get. I hope you enjoy this and please R&R.**

**WARNING: This chapter contains innuendo, sappiness, and Amora being a shameless Logyn shipper...again.**

One would think that things would settle down for Loki and Sigyn after their big day as heroes of Asgard. Sadly, that could not be farther from the truth. Only a day later, the date of their wedding was announced and the entire realm seemed to be suddenly obsessed with them. Both Aesir and Vanir partisans were up in arms about it, saying that such a pairing was unheard of and blasphemous. Others were merely surprised that someone like Lady Sigyn would be given to a man like the prince. On the other hand, it seemed that there were plenty of young commoner women wishing to be in Sigyn's place. Apparently they all valued his stunning good looks and royal blood over the fact that he was reputed to be a rather cold person. It was amusing, but the couple quickly grew tired of all the attention, especially when it was political attention. Freya and Frigga were taking most of the heat in that area, but it didn't help Sigyn and Loki much. They had grown used to the whispering as they walked through the halls and streets of Asgard, but one evening, when Sigyn was walking to Loki's tower, she could hear a group of Vanir talking about her. Some of them were saying they pitied her for being made to marry an Aesir, but others said they had no sympathy for her because she obviously wanted to join "that class of savages". It was deeply hurtful to her and when she reached Loki's study, she broke down into tears. He immediately embraced her upon seeing this and asked her what had happened.

"I do not understand it. Why can we not all just be _Asgardians_? Why must we divide ourselves and be so bitter and hateful to one another?" she said, burying her face in his shoulder. He instantly understood what was going on and sighed.

"Do not let them get to you. You are forgetting that there are far more people who support our union than disapprove of it. We will bring Asgard together and the nay sayers will be forgotten, however loudly they may speak now." the prince consoled, stroking Sigyn's long blond hair comfortingly. It felt strange since she usually was much more resilient. Perhaps she had simply become fed up with the hostilities between their people and Loki remembered how it was that same thing that had driven her to go to Alfheim all those years ago. "Do not fear. This time, things will be different." he told her.

"It will take many years for Asgard to be changed, Loki. My own mother did not begin to strive for peace between your people until she accepted that the war was over and it only happened long after I had left for Alfheim." The cynicism in Sigyn's voice was clear and it saddened Loki. She gave herself too little credit. Putting a finger under her chin, he forced her to look up at him and see the sincerity it his eyes.

"That only further proves that you have the power to change people. Before you came back into my life and reminded me how wonderful you are, I was dead set on doing nothing with my life except study magic, but when I got to know you again, I fell in love with you and I realized that you made me happier than any spell ever could. You changed me." Loki told Sigyn before brushing her tears away and gently kissing her. She quickly felt her spirits lifting at this and the faintest hint of a smile graced her lips. "Now let us not speak of such things any further. We are to be wed in only a few days. We should focus on our happiness."

"You are right. Thank you." For a moment, Sigyn just stood there and let herself enjoy being in Loki's arms and soon, her sadness melted away.

* * *

><p>The few days before the wedding felt like a year to Sigyn for she had to spend those few days standing perfectly still while her sisters fussed incessantly over her wedding gown. They couldn't decide what colors to make it and in what style without even bothering to ask Sigyn how she felt until it finally occurred to them that was in fact <em>her<em> wedding and not theirs and they let her make some decisions on her own. Sif did her best to relieve her friend of the fussing and prying questions posed by her sisters, but despite being the maid of honor, she was allowed little time to speak with Sigyn.

Loki suffered similarly. Frigga refused to let him out of her sight, always finding something for him to do and asking him if he wanted this, that, or the other thing. Thor and Baldr often watched from afar with amusement as Frigga forced her dark haired son to pick what sort of flowers he wanted for the decorations. She seemed intent on giving him as much choice in everything as possible, and he thought it quite ironic considering that she had not given him a choice in his betrothal. Perhaps she was trying to make up for it, but now she was giving him choices for things he was not at all concerned with. He made decisions like those based on what he thought Sigyn would like or what reminded him of her. Fortunately, despite Frigga's persistent presence, Loki was occasionally able to speak with his brothers. They were the only people he had told of his love for Sigyn and while Baldr seemed fascinated by the idea that his brother wanted to be married, Thor was unsurprised and told Loki that he was happy for him. He had known of his brother's new found affection for Sigyn ever since they had gotten back from Svartalfheim. He'd seen the way Loki looked at her and besides that, he was sure that the dark haired man would have found a way to escape marriage by now if he did not love Sigyn. It was unexpectedly observant of Thor, but then again, anyone who bothered to give Loki and Sigyn a second glance who notice a change. On the other hand, Baldr being exceptionally innocent, the boy hadn't been able to see it until Thor pointed it out to him. The eldest brother was one of the few people who seemed to have any ability to read Loki at all and he had taken it upon himself to teach Baldr what little he knew about seeing past Loki's façade.

"See how he stands very close to Lady Sigyn and smiles every so softly when she speaks. That means he loves her." Thor said one evening to Baldr as the two brothers observed Loki and Sigyn engaging in polite conversation with an inquisitive noble. The white haired boy, for all his naivety, was skeptical of Thor's words and frowned.

"That is not much evidence. If he loved her, he would act more affectionate."

"Ah, but you forget that Loki is different. He has always been a very private person and he never shows a great deal of any emotion but calm in public." Thor reminded his little brother. The boy seemed satisfied with this answer as it checked out with his own knowledge of Loki and nodded.

"I understand. I am happy for brother. Lady Sigyn is kind and pretty."

"Indeed." Before Thor could say anything more, Frigga appeared and shooed the two away, telling them to stop spying on their brother and his fiancé.

* * *

><p>Lady Sigyn was rudely awakened at the crack of dawn on her wedding day by her younger sister, Nanna, who seemed to be more excited about the whole thing than Sigyn herself was. She was unceremoniously dragged out of bed and made to eat her breakfast as quickly as possible before being forced to sit completely still while her mother and sisters spent the morning making her look perfect. Syn spent nearly two and a half hours meticulously brushing ever single knot out of Sigyn's long, thick, golden tresses alone and it took the combined effort of Syn and Var to braid it. That was half the morning. The other half was spent decking Sigyn out in her gown because Freya felt the need to adjust it every five minutes.<p>

Prince Loki was in no better of a situation. Servants swarmed around him as they polished his helmet and obsessed over every speck of dust on his person. They knew he could not afford to look any less than the royalty he was and any flaw found in his appearance they feared would be blamed on them. Their presence was slightly annoying to Loki as he wished for peace and quiet and it didn't help that they were touching him so much. The only person whose touch he had ever really enjoyed was Sigyn's and thus was probably the only person he wouldn't have minded to have straightening his cape and adjusting the straps of his armor. Still, he tolerated the discomfort and soon after he was deemed presentable, he was allowed to go out and greet the guests in the palace courtyard. Thor and Baldr were there and they smiled at the sight of him, but though the dark haired prince would have been much more comfortable talking to them and not the nobles he barely knew. However, it would have been rude of him to ignore the guests and so he put on a grin and welcomed them warmly.

"You have honored me, coming here today." Loki said with a deep bow. The guests smiled at him and nodded politely, though their pleasantness was faked. They all knew that once the event was over, everyone would go back to quietly disliking him, but he didn't let it bother him for today the woman he loved would become his wife. He would let no one dampen his spirits because of it. Thor and Baldr came to stand beside him and his grin became genuine. The white haired boy was fidgeting with his dark blue cape nervously and looking at his boots as Nanna approached while Thor tried to convince him to stop being so shy. Loki had difficulty not chuckling at this and though he maintained his composure, there was laughter in his emerald eyes that Thor did not miss.

"You think it amusing, brother? I remember a time when you were just the same way." the blond whispered.

"Nonsense." Loki scoffed, earning him an amused smile from his elder brother.

"Do not deny it. I can remember clearly all those times when Lady Sigyn would visit and-" Thor began, but he was cut off.

"That was just a desire to be presentable to a guest. Besides, I never stumbled over my own words." Almost as if on cue, the two older brothers looked over at Baldr, who was trying to engage in conversation with Nanna and both men fought the urge to laugh.

"I-I really...um...like y-your dress, Lady Nanna. You look- I mean- it looks very...pretty on you." the young man struggled to say. The girl didn't seem to notice his lack of eloquence and blushed at his words, thanking him. Thor and Loki were prevented from dwelling on their brother's shyness any further when Frigga came and whispered to them that it was time to prepare for the ceremony and inquired as what they were doing standing around. Not being ones to invoke the wrath of their mother, the two hurried off to the throne room, politely declining anyone who stopped to talk to them. When they arrived, they found golden pews set up and banners of gold and green hanging from the ceiling, some bearing the Asgardian triple knot (specifically a more sharply edged version Loki used as his seal). There was not a single place one could look without seeing at least one or two sprigs of acorns or wreaths of blue flowers. Lady Sif stood on Odin's left side in a golden dress, glaring at Loki as he approached as though he'd personally wronged her. He didn't bother to ask why. He knew it was because she had never liked the idea of her best friend marrying him. It didn't bother him much as he was used to Sif hating him, but he did wish she would stop giving him that death stare. Fortunately, Loki was saved from it when Thor greeted the woman cheerfully and caused her to smile.

Taking his place in front of the alter, Loki watched as nobles and then commoners flooded into the hall, talking excitedly. He immediately noticed that the Aesir and Vanir took different sides of the room and didn't mingle much, which disappointed him, but it was reassuring to see Freya proudly stand beside Sif. Thor and Frigga took their places next to him a moment later and it grew quiet but for the music. The doors of the hall opened and Sigyn came in on Njörd's arm. She wore a breathtaking gown of blue, green, and gold and her long hair was intricately braided. Her beauty glowed like gem as she walked down the aisle, followed by her sisters, who tossed blue and white flowers from the baskets they held. The prince couldn't take his eyes off Sigyn and when she finally stood with him in front of the alter, he wore a grin of pleasure.

"Welcome all. We are gathered here today to witness not only the union of two people, but of all of Asgard as well." the AllFather began. "Let this day rid us of any lasting prejudices and bring us the happiness of true peace." There was polite applause but only about half the people in the room really meant it. Odin went on without paying this much heed. "Loki Odinson, do you swear to love, honor, and protect this woman with your life?"

"I swear." With this, Loki placed a golden band on Sigyn's finger.

"Sigyn Iwaldidottir, do you swear to love, honor, and abide this man so long as you are able?"

"I swear." she said before putting an identical ring on Loki's finger.

"Then by the power invested in me as King of Asgard, I proclaim thee husband and wife." Taking the cue, Loki and Sigyn kissed and this time there was cheering to accompany the applause. They both smiled and turned to the crowd for Sigyn to toss her flower wreath (which was caught by an ecstatic Nanna) before listening to Odin again. "Now let us celebrate this union." he said and with the boom of Gungnir against the floor, the crowd flowed out of the hall as they all headed to the ballroom.

The first to dance were of course Njörd and Sigyn. The woman thanked her grandfather for taking her father's place before moving away for Frigga and Loki to have their dance. It was interesting to watch them glide around delicately, softly smiling and whispering to each other. Then their song ended and it was time for the bride and groom's dance. Frigga went to be with Odin and Loki stood alone on the dance floor, hand extended out in a gesture for Sigyn to join him. Blushing, she came forward and took his hand, placing her other hand on his shoulder. The prince wrapped his arm around her waist and smiled mischievously as the fast paced music started. He twirled her about with skill and easy, coaxing quiet, surprised giggles out of her. However, she quickly regained her composer and synchronized with him. The crowd looked at them in awe, dazzled by their fluid movements. It was clear that they were meant for each other. The people clapped excitedly and the couple was joined by Thor and Sif and Baldr and Nanna. The speed of the music slowed and Sigyn drew close to Loki, causing him to grin and lean in to whisper in her ear.

"Enjoying yourself, my dear?"

"I have never been happier in my entire life."

* * *

><p>Fandral sat a few seats away from the newly weds in the banquet hall, observing them with an expression of confusion.<p>

"If I did not know any better I would say that Prince Loki is actually happy to be married." he muttered to Lady Sif. She rolled her eyes at this and replied.

"What, have you not seen them hold hands?"

"Yes, but I thought it was just for show. You cannot seriously expect me to believe that Loki loves her. I mean, I know Lady Sigyn has always had a soft spot for the man, but he loves nothing but his magic. You heard him say he never wanted to be tied down like this." Fandral argued with a frown. Sif shook her head as she finished chewing a bite of fruit.

"Do you not see the way he looks at her? He definitely wants her. Something happened in Svartalfheim that gave him a change of heart. Typical of Sigyn to cause such a change. Besides, you were not around when we were children and Loki would give her flowers and show her tricks. It was insufferable." She could remember clearly how she always seemed to be around when Loki had been trying impress Sigyn in some way or another. Fandral seemed utterly dumbfounded by this information and did not speak further on the subject. Meanwhile, Loki and Sigyn chatted animately with Kammyl, whom they had invited to the wedding and received many gifts from. She had been accompanied by the Goblin King, who had come to express his gratitude to the two sorcerers for freeing his people. They, of course, were very humble about the whole thing.

Amora seemed to be in a perpetual state of bliss as she watched the newly weds that day. She had believed the two were perfect for each other for a very long time and now to see them as husband and wife felt like a life's accomplishment. It nearly brought tears of joy to her eyes. Funnily enough, Loki and Sigyn had never really noticed their former teacher's efforts to bring them together.

Odin and Frigga both seemed oddly relieved that their son was married. Perhaps it was because they thought he would be less inclined to cause trouble, or maybe they just hoped that an heir would be provided (since none of their other sons were married, though Thor and Sif had been hemming and hawing about it for years). However, Loki and Sigyn were totally unconcerned by this. They were to busy being happy.

"And now, a toast." said Odin near the end of the feast and practically everyone in the hall raised their goblets. "To Prince Loki and Lady Sigyn, to peace, to love, to prosperity." The masses repeated this and knocked their cups together loudly. The couple smiled and drank their mead, feeling for once in their lives as if they belonged.

* * *

><p>It was very late in the evening when Loki carried his new wife across the threshold of his bedroom. They had left the celebration saying goodnight to their now more than a little tipsy friends and had received a number of lewd comments regarding what they were going to do when they got home. When they arrived, Loki put Sigyn down and she looked around the room. She had never been here before as she had always found Loki in his study, but admittedly, she liked this room even more. There was a fourposter bed covered in fine, black furs and there were no books and scrolls strewn everywhere as they were organized on the shelves that lined the walls. It was all very neat and tidy. She could not find a single flaw in the entire room.<p>

"Do you like it?" Loki asked, seeing her gaze flitting about, taking in everything. Sigyn grinned and nodded sweetly.

"I love it." At this, the dark haired man leered at her mischievously and let out a small chuckle as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. A soft giggle escaped the woman when he spoke again.

"Good, because your going to be spending a lot of time in here." he purred in her ear before kissing her.

* * *

><p><em>Sigyn dreamt of those two dark haired boys again that night. They smiled at her and talked excitedly to her. One of them Loki hoisted up and carried on his shoulders as they walked through the palace gardens and the other one held tightly to her hand, inquiring about this that and the other thing. It made her happy and she came to realize that these boys were her children. She was going to bear Loki two sons.<em>

_ The blond woman awoke in the morning with her head resting on her husband's chest. He was still asleep and he wore an expression of contentment that she had never seen in him before. When she reached up and stroked his disheveled black hair affectionately, his green eyes fluttered open and he smiled at her warmly. He was in his happy place and he never wanted to leave, but like all good things, he knew it would end eventually and of course, it did._

_ Only a month had passed when the drums of war began to beat once again as Jötunheim attacked Svartalfheim and Queen Kammyl, fearing for the survival of her people, made an alliance with Muspelheim despite Odin's warnings. Asgard was forced to intervene (after much debate between the Aesir and Vanir), which meant that Loki was called to battle. While he was absent, Lady Sigyn discovered that she was pregnant. Only when Jötunheim was weakened, Svartalfheim lay in waste, and Surtur had been defeated did the war end and allow Loki to return home. Finding that his wife carried his child, the prince did everything in his power to be with her and for a time, not war nor the Fates themselves could pry him from his happy place. With Sigyn, he had discovered a joy greater than he had ever known and when Vali was born, he was reminded that no spellbook could ever have given it to him._

**A/N: ...and so it ends. Even though I ended it at the happiest time in Loki's life, I feel sad as one usually does when a story is over. Not to worry, though. For those of you who enjoyed my way of writing Loki and Sigyn, I will be uploading two new stories soon: a oneshot called _Defying Gravity_ about why Sigyn chose to go to Alfheim, and a series of short stories about Loki and his children called _Slightly Dysfunctional_, which will probably run for a long time, depending on how it's received. Anyway, thank you all for the reviews. To someone like me, they mean the world.**

**As an added note, I would like to dedicate this fic to the anon reviewer using the name 'lokiswife', who reviewed all of the chapters. Without you, I probably wouldn't have finished this story. Every time I read one of your reviews, I grinned and felt motivated. In fact, your Chapter 8 review nearly made me cry from happiness (no joke). I AM NOT WORTHY. I wish I could contact you somehow, but you're anon. In any case, 1000 Thank Yous.**


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